Onkaparinga Council drafting new media guidelines
Proposed new media guidelines at Onkaparinga would ban councillors from making comments criticising the council’s policies, decisions or administration.
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Elected members on Onkaparinga Council would be banned from making comments that “criticise” council decisions or the administration under draft guidelines.
The proposed crackdown would require councillors to inform Mayor Erin Thompson and chief executive Mark Dowd if they intended to speak with a journalist.
They would also be instructed to avoid making comments on social media that might be “perceived as criticising policies or decisions of council or its administration”.
Mayor Erin Thompson said the policy’s intent was not to “gag” elected members.
“The draft policy states clearly that ‘these provisions do not and are not intended to curtail or restrict in any way the rights of elected members to express their personal views … as long as care is taken not to convey the impression that such views are made on behalf of the council,” Ms Thompson said.
She said the requirement to inform herself and Mr Dowd of comments made to media outlets was “a matter of courtesy” and to ensure the organisation was aware of the matter being discussed.
However, following questions from The Advertiser, Onkaparinga decided to defer making a decision on the draft plan at this stage.
Instead of debating the guidelines on Tuesday night, as had been originally intended, councillors have now been called to a policy-making workshop.
The proposed gag also banned councillors from accessing, sharing or ‘liking’ any material that was “offensive, abusive, racist, sexist” or “provocative or pornographic”.
All online comments were expected to be objective, impartial and accurate as well as not breaching confidentiality requirements or council policies.
Under the Local Government Act, councillors are required to make clear that public comments on council decisions are their opinion only.
Earlier this year, widespread backlash forced Adelaide City Council to revoke a controversial gag order banning councillors from sharing proposals with the media before they were published in the council agenda and Marion Council is currently considering introducing rules to “control” comments made by elected members online.
Veteran councillor Bill Jamieson welcomed the decision to hold a workshop on the matter saying there was enough concern from elected members to warrant it.
“We need to get this right,” Cr Jamieson said.
“We have the right to talk (to the media) if we want.
“If we don’t express ourselves the way they (the administration) want, what then?
“People have the right to express themselves.”
The draft policy also followed public outcry earlier this year about Onkaparinga councillor Sandra Brown, who shared racist material on her personal Facebook page.
She later made a bizarre apology, claiming to have “made up” the word “multicultural”.
