Connectivity conundrum for council livestreams

THE quality of Golden Plains Shire’s council livestreams is being called into question following poor audio during the regular July meeting.

Cr Ian Getsom said his wife was watching the livestream of council’s regular meeting which occurred at Smythesdale’s The Well on Tuesday last week and that she struggled to hear the proceedings.

“My wife rang about up about 8pm and said she couldn’t hear a thing, so I told Eric [Braslis, CEO] because you want people to know what’s going on,” he said.

“If you go on your computer or laptop it goes alright but when you go on the TV screen it really doesn’t. My wife watched it through YouTube on the TV.”

“I’ve heard nothing about any improvements being made to the livestreams. As far as I know, that’s just what it is and it’s not going to change.”

As well as poorer audio clarity than with meetings held at Bannockburn, connectivity interruptions have often been prevalent with meetings held in the region’s two northern locations at the Linton Community Hub and Smythesdale’s The Well.

Muffled audio persisted during their July meeting as well as their May meeting also held at Smythesdale, the first 20 mins of which was not livestreamed due to technical issues.

A spokesperson for the Shire said while they’re looking into improvements at Smythesdale, the same can’t be said for Linton.

“Council is continuing to investigate options available to improve Smythesdale’s The Well’s audio technology capability,” the spokesperson said.

“The cost to do similar at Linton is considered prohibitive given the age of the building and the lack of communication backhaul by the telecommunication providers.

“The Well in Smythesdale, partially due to the $100,000 state-funded upgrade associated with the recently installed Digital Hub, provides appropriate internet connectivity, and enables adequate livestream capability.

“Council considers The Well to be an important place to host council meetings and gives residents in the north an opportunity to attend a meeting in person.”

By 2023’s end the majority of Golden Plains Shire’s 11 council meetings this year will have been held in the south with six at the Golden Plains Civic Centre in Bannockburn.

To the north, two will have been at Linton while will three will have taken place at Smythesdale’s The Well.

With the year’s second Linton meeting to be in November, the spokesperson said there are no plans to improve the location’s connectivity by that time.

“The Linton connection is subject to the constraints of the telecommunication services to the area and the lack of backhaul,” the spokesperson said.

“Improving the connectivity at Linton would require an extensive upgrade of the on-site technology and an increase in bandwidth, including switching and uninterruptible power supply.

“Unfortunately, even with those upgrades, connectivity via Microsoft Teams or Zoom will not only consume the available bandwidth, but the lack of communication backhaul from the telecommunication providers impacts on the quality of the livestream to the point where the stream is lost.

“This then materially impacts the benefits of having a technology-based meeting that allows engagement from across Golden Plains Shire and the wider community.

“Council anticipates that there may be connection issues for the livestream of the November 2023 meeting in Linton, but will record the meeting and upload that recording to council’s website the following day.”

Cr Getsom said if meetings are to be held in the region’s north, there needs to be an assurance in the quality of livestreaming.

“You’d think it would be a bit more of a priority since we’re having meetings there. It would be nice if it were improved,” he said.

“Our meetings have to be spread around the shire. We’re not all Bannockburn. I think there needs to be that accessibility for everyone so ratepayers can attend.

“They have been doing that in the north. A few people did watch the last livestream. I think I saw about 48 hits on it at one point. They need to continue to be able to do that.”

The locations for council’s 2024 meetings are to be discussed in December.