Adelaide City Council bans debate in committee meetings
Debate and is no longer allowed at Adelaide City Council Committee meetings. Yes, you read that right.
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Debate is no longer allowed at Adelaide City Council Committee meetings, leaving the public in the lurch about elected members’ opinion on important CBD issues.
On Tuesday night, the council introduced a new structure for its Committee meetings, with elected members only able to ask questions about reports.
At Committee meetings previously, councillors could debate, ask questions, form an opinion and then make a recommendation to the full council the following week.
The council made the decision to scale back the number of meetings and change the meeting structure in December last year during fiery debate, although a few have since expressed surprise at how the new format will silence discussion.
In front of about 20 staff members, councillors expressed confusion about what they could and could not say, with committee chairman Alexander Hyde asking for legal advice and clarification of how those meetings would now be run.
“The ability to discuss and offer feedback and suggestions would increase the value of a meeting – that is what we originally thought the meetings would be,” Cr Hyde said.
“I was quite shocked to have (received) the advice yesterday that we could not do that … we could put forward a question but not debate.”
Cr Robert Simms said he would ask the council next month to change its Standing Orders and return to the old structure.
“We are being bored into silence … we sat there like stunned mullets,” Cr Simms said.
Cr Phillip Martin, the most vocal about last night’s changes, said the new meetings were “a waste of ratepayer money” and “pointless”.
“The really important aspect of The Committee previously was to allow members to ask questions and voice an opinion in a manner that exposed everyone to a variety or arguments so we could genuinely reach an informed view,” Cr Martin said.
“A particular highlight for me (at the last meeting) was being presented with a discussion paper we could not discuss.”
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Under the new structure, the public would not know elected members’ position until a formal council meeting the following week.
It is part of a wider change to the council’s monthly meeting structure following a push from Lord Mayor Sandy Verschoor to bring debate back to the chamber during full council meetings.
The change meant no decisions, including on what could be recommended to council, whatsoever could be made at committee meetings.
Adelaide City Council governance manager Rudi Deco told The City “this meeting provides an opportunity for council members to ask questions of the administration regarding reports … to support better informed decision making”.
Ms Verschoor said councillors could ask questions but not “be debating whether you are going to vote or not vote for it”.
“What I wanted to do is make sure that everybody was fully informed before they walked into the chamber and this seemed to be the best mechanism,” Ms Verschoor said.
An LGA spokeswoman said: “The LGA believes councils themselves should determine a meeting schedule that best meets their needs and supports good decision making.”