Amendments to Council's Code of Meeting Practice

A Council, under the Local Government Act 1993 may adopt a Code of Meeting Practice that regulates the conduct of Council and committee meetings.

The Draft Code of Meeting Practice has been developed using the Model Code of Meeting Practice that was prescribed 14 December 2018.

The current Code of Meeting Practice was adopted at the October 2010 Ordinary Meeting of Council.

For clarity, the draft Code applies to Council Meetings and any Council Committees established for which their membership consists solely of (any number of) Councillors. Council currently does not have any “Council Committees” established.

Council Sub-Committees and Working Groups (for which membership consists of members of the public) can elect to adopt the Code of Meeting Practice or a (commonly less formal) alternative process by which to conduct their meetings.

The draft Code has been re-written using the December 2018 prescribed Model Code of Meeting Practice as the base. Supplementary clauses from the current Port Macquarie-Hastings Council Code of Meeting Practice were transitioned into a draft and consideration was given by staff and Councillors. Legal opinion in addition to opinion from the Office of Local Government has also been provided.

For clarity:

• The prescribed Model Code of Meeting Practice has mandatory clauses that a Council cannot change, these are highlighted in black text.

• The red text includes non-mandatory clauses that a Council may choose to adopt.

• The green text indicates supplementary clauses that Council wishes to introduce (either new or carried over from the current version).

The draft Code is more precise than the current Code. There are also notable changes that have been defined as mandatory that Council is required to adopt, these are (material items noted only):

• Requirement of all meetings of councils and council committees to be webcast on council websites with an interim obligation for all councils to webcast their meetings from 14 December 2019. Council is considering an audio-visual recording to be made and uploaded to the Council website as soon as practical and being available on the website for up to 12 months; and
• Rules limiting the use of mayoral minutes without notice to cases of urgency.

The Draft Code is available in the Document Library on the right.

For more information contact Blair Hancock on (02) 6581 8111.

To share your views about amendments to the Code of Meeting Practice, use the Submission tab below or see right for Other Ways to Have Your Say.

Submissions close Wednesday 5 June 2019