Chairman of the NSW Country Mayors Association (CMA), Mayor Rick Firman OAM has expressed concern that councils across NSW must now wind the clock back on the implementation of the 2025 Local Government Model Code of Meeting Practice as a result of the passing of a Disallowance motion last week.

“It is unfortunate that our representatives in the NSW Parliament were unable to negotiate the introduction of an amendment to the Code of Meeting Practice to allow attendance at meetings by audio-visual link. While we understand that talks were underway for this to occur, they had dragged on for some time resulting in the Disallowance motion,” he said.

“The CMA has, since the introduction of the new Code, lobbied consistently for a reversion to the previous arrangements whereby councillors who were unable to attend a meeting in person could do so by AVL. Many councillors serving on remote, rural and regional councils live a very long way from their council chambers, in some instances attending a meeting requires travelling hundreds of kilometres. Nevertheless, they commit to doing this and in the main they manage it. However, sometimes due to factors beyond their control they cannot make the journey, and this is why the ability to attend by AVL is so important.”

“Many of our members were also deeply dissatisfied with the new Code’s requirement that councillors could no longer hold briefings in private. The CMA also lobbied for this to be returned to the Code, our members strongly believe that councillors must have the opportunity to explore, learn and investigate proposals before council without third-party scrutiny. Decision-making by councillors should be informed, and sometimes this must be done by way of private briefings where matters can be aired without fear or favour,” Mayor Firman said.

The new Local Government Code of Meeting Practice was introduced last year, it included numerous changes from the previous Code including removing the ability of councillors to attend meetings via AVL, the only exception being natural disaster and banning private briefing for councillors. The removal of both was decried by councils across NSW. The loss of attendance by AVL was seen as restricting councillors’ abilities to represent their communities and for the possibility of misuse because council meetings could be deliberated scheduled for times when some councillors would not be able to attend in person. While the loss of private briefings was seen as restricting councillors’ opportunities to be better informed about the matters under their consideration.

“In person attendance at every meeting is not realistic for many councillors in remote, rural and regional NSW. The CMA wanted to see an amendment to the Code that recognised this situation. It is very unfortunate that despite on-going discussions with the Minister for Local Government, the Hon Ron Hoenig MP, the Greens and the Coalition formed the view that the only way to achieve the amendment was by disallowing the entire Code. Councils across NSW are now in a position of having to undo changes that have been put into place since the introduction of the Code last year. For many, it will be a costly and time-consuming exercise,” Mayor Firman said.

Mayor Russell Fitzpatrick, CMA Deputy Chairman and Mayor of Bega Shire echoes concern about the costs associated with the now defunct 2025 Code as well as the time it has taken for amendments that we have lobbied for.

“Councillors and General Managers just want certainty on the process they must follow,” Mayor Fitzpatrick said.

“We understand that the Government had been examining the feedback received from Dr Cohn MLC, the Country Mayors Association and Local Government NSW on the Model Meeting Code, with quite advanced drafting on an updated code. We are hoping that drafting for the new Code will be completed as soon as possible.  We encourage the Government, Coalition, Greens and Cross-Benchers to work as quickly and as collaboratively as possible to remove the current uncertainty. The CMA as a key stakeholder would welcome any opportunity to provide input into the resolution of the issue,” he said.

“For now, some CMA Members have already voted to revert to the previous meeting rule-book.”