Q&A: How candidates will make council more transparent

Gympie council election 2020: candidates grilled on plans to make council more ‘public friendly’

The region’s 30 council candidates unveil their plans to make the council more open and transparent.

IN the lead-up to the March 28 council election, The Gympie Times put a number of questions to the region’s candidates.

This time the 30 men and women fighting for one of the nine seats on the next Gympie Regional Council reveal how they will address the ongoing complaints over the council’s transparency.

MORE ELECTION NEWS

* REVEALED: What mayoral hopefuls have spent so far

* Curran donations’ don’t pass the pub test’

All responses presented in divisional order, and in the sequence candidates’ names appear on the ballot papers.

Live-streaming council meetings is a popular choice.

Mayoral

Glen Hartwig

COMPLETE honesty is essential. I will foster a culture that is open and inclusive. Transparency is actually an attitude and character trait. If it is not part of who you are, it will not be a character of your organisation. If elected, I will release the hidden reports, the Rattler report and the staff survey. I will also vote to live stream meetings and move meetings to regional areas to include all residents.

Mick Curran

I have always supported more transparency however the fact remains, some issues and items cannot be fully disclosed in the community. We have opened council workshops for our community, we have introduced draft budgets … and importantly every vote of councillors is recorded so the community can see how councillors have voted. Why, so we can see how some councillors have voted against job creating development, voted against initiatives that they state they publicly support and voted against making the necessary policy changes needed to make council more effective. I have supported live stream meetings but I will also bring in a “community question time” to council where residents can ask questions of the full council.

Tim Jerome

I support the streaming of meetings and yes, I support the return of general business. These are just basic givens to improve transparency. I believe inviting the public to council workshops and having more council information nights would be another good initiative.

Gympie Town Hall

Division 1

Jess Milne

Transparency is about providing information that is easy to find and understandable. Pre 2012 and Councillor ‘portfolios’ there were committees. Meetings contained detailed operational reports that gave a fantastic insight into councils’ inner workings via the minutes. If not against any legislation, I want those reports tabled at meetings again. Live-streaming and recording of meetings for replay would enable anyone to view. General business needs to return to meetings.

Ash Little

Improved transparency starts with communication. If the community says they feel poorly informed, then it is council’s job to improve this. I discussed introducing microphones, recording of meetings and live-streaming with Mayor Curran in 2017. I also discussed the courtroom like seating arrangements in council chambers as unfriendly and unwelcoming. General business needs to return and if a matter requires more time then it can be laid aside to enable councillors to obtain further information.

Mark McDonald

Workshops continue to be open to the public. Development applications online. Redirect budget to ICT to enable further technology upgrade so that more information can be publicly available. I would support live streaming. I support the return of general business providing there is not an agenda to ambush any staff or directorates. General business can be quite constructive.

Phil Feldman

I support the return of general business and questions without notice. The answer could always be “I will provide the answers as soon as I can, and certainly, by the next sitting of council”. The same rules that apply to our state and federal parliaments should apply to the local council, including transparency of committee meetings. In camera sessions should be limited to monetary negotiations or specific sensitive issues. If you can’t bring the people to the meeting, bring the meeting to the people (called live streaming and storage for later access online). It is the duty of the chair (mayor) to control the meeting and if necessary limit or rule questions out of order and retain “decorum”.

Council seats, currently empty.

Division 2

Dolly Jensen

I would like to see the council meetings to be held around the whole region. We have halls, we have cars (we can even carpool). This way the locals from that division would be able to attend a meeting. I would totally support live streaming and general business. How else can we get the job done? We need to show that we have nothing to hide.

Leonora Cox

Gympie region residents deserve to know what is happening around them and for them. We need to be far more proactive in making information easier to find. Yes, live-stream and record meetings, put microphones in front of everyone, have general business, public questions, councillor questions and motions with or without notice. Division councillors should hold their own local residents’ meetings and be part of other local committees, Division reports.

The openness of council meetings has been a controversial subject in the past few years.

Division 3

Mal Gear

I TOTALLY believe council should be as transparent as it can be and this has changed a lot in the last four years. I agree with live steaming council meetings and workshops. I would support general business back into council meetings as long as it is done in an appropriate way. I’m happy to discuss issues in general business but understand that no decisions or voting could be done because we would need time to research and do some homework on an issue if it was raised in general business; but I would be happy to have it reinstated.

Terry McMullan

The biggest priority for the division is solid, effective representation, knowing that you are able to pick the phone up and talk to your councillor and know that action will result. The roads within the division are a constant issue also, residents are challenged driving on these roads when dealing with large vehicles and road failures. Additionally, addressing the core responsibilities of council, rates and rubbish need focus and attention.

Shane Waldock

In 2020 it is ridiculous that a council with the geographical size of Gympie is not live streaming its meetings. Clearly the issue is not technology but rather one of a culture of lack of transparency, as we all know the minutes of the meeting are not a verbatim record. Live-streaming gives the option for live captioning, which could also assist those with hearing loss. I definitely support bring back general business – it holds council to account.

Michiel Pratt

Some of the power delegated to the CEO needs to be returned to the elected members. Technology has been used successfully in many other councils to live stream meetings, which in my view increases accountability and transparency. (On general business returning) Even if we are unable to answer the question on the spot, it raises the issue in an appropriate forum which can then be followed up and reported on at a later date if necessary.

Colleen Miller

As I have previously said, I would certainly support both live streaming and general business. Obviously there will always be some sensitive issues that may require it be dealt with in committee, but for the majority – absolutely.

Some candidates are calling on the reports from CEO Bernard Smith’s offices to be released.

Division 4

Bruce Devereaux

I guess if you have another job to race off to you’d want your obligation of attending council meetings over as quick as possible. I would rather do a good job, and part of that is to take the community with us as we make decisions and look towards our region’s future. Yes to general business (returning to meetings). If the answer to a tabled question isn’t known they can defer until the next meeting. Easy.

Rae Gate

I would support live streaming of meetings. I would also request that a better sound system be in place as currently those attending council meetings cannot hear each councillor very clearly as they have their backs to the attendees and there are no microphones. I do support the return of general business. Meetings I attend for other boards and management committees all have general business as an agenda item. A council that communicates and engages regularly with the community will improve transparency.

Daryl Dodt

Transparency only works if you look through the window. I’d strongly urge people to attend council’s open and public meetings and workshops. I would support live streaming; it would remove the bias of reporting. We already have notified “general business”. General business without notification would allow decisions to be made without information; like trying to diagnose bowel cancer without a colonoscopy. I would prefer to have information at hand when making decisions on your behalf.

Wayne Sachs

Councillors need to be more involved in the decision making process and not just “rubber stamps”. Even though the Local Government Act allows more power to the CEO and mayor, it doesn’t have to be that way. It needs to be an inclusive working arrangement. I would support live streaming of meetings and definitely a return to general business to meetings – the latter is not negotiable.

There are calls for the release of a long-awaited review into the Rattler’s blowouts, but CEO Bernard Smith says the report is not finished.

Division 5

Rob Burns

I most certainly would support live streaming and recording, as hearing-impaired I would like to see microphones installed for the gallery to be able to hear. General business is a fundamental part of council and if elected I would insist it be reinstated; I also believe locals should have the right to ask questions of the council and councillors. I would fight for transparency and will never be afraid to ask the sticky question, far too many times this last council has voted on the advice of management without question.

Dan Stewart

I voted for the reintroduction of general business and have amendments ready for the new council to bring back general business. I will seek opportunities for councillors or their nominees to raise issues in council meetings. I will continue to challenge items going into closed sessions and have reports made public. Plans are underway to improve the meeting room layout and audio. I support live streaming and will continue my regular reports.

Chelle Dobson

Transparency will be improved by eliminating or reducing the items that are dealt with “in committee”. Surveys and reports should be conducted and written with public disclosure in mind at all times. I support the return of general business as well as live-streaming and a video library available on the council website.

There is an ongoing fight for the release of the council’s staff surveys.

Division 6

Hilary Smerdon

I would support live streaming of council meetings and the return of general business to council meetings. I supported a motion to do just that by ex-councillor Cochrane but was defeated. I think there are too many issues dealt with “in committee” and the residents deserve a lot of these issues to be discussed in open council.

Brian Thomas

I will support a return to general business and I will also support the live streaming of general meetings. I will also look at the function of information and workshops to see that they comply with the Local Government Act and will also see that committees function as intended.

Mikki Lawson

You only need secrets if you’re doing something wrong or are ashamed of what you are doing.

The number of in committee items in the past term has left some with a sour taste.

Division 7

Donna Reardon

To improve transparency I believe in an open book policy throughout the council’s bureaucracy. Also there is a need to be accountable and held to task for decisions made. Hopefully this will in still a notion of confidence in what the council is proposing. We need genuine discussion, using common sense approaches, release relevant reports, prioritise the dominant issues and work together to develop fiscally prudent decisions for our Gympie region.

Bob Leitch

Transparency is a topical word with regards to governance. Council needs to keep the community informed, but also respect that some issues must be dealt with in confidence. I would support live-streaming. General business has it’s place, but would also say an informed decision is a much better way to operate.

Warren Polley

Live streaming and general business – yes, but not at the expense of breaching the Privacy, Fair Work and Local Government Acts. Consideration around the timing of questions and answers will have a bearing on the reasonable length of time devoted to general business. It is certainly a good way to hear from the community and the issues they face as long they don’t expect immediate answers.

The Gympie region, by divisions.

Division 8

Bob Fredman

I have no problem with live streaming of council meetings, and the reintroduction of general business. And there are other things we have to do to reach the level of transparency people are seeking. I suggest that transparency needs to flow from the top. There is so much that can be done in regard to creating a culture of openness in everything we do, starting with the mayor releasing the Rattler and the staff reports.

Trent Mitchell

Yes I’m happy to have meetings live streamed and microphones so the audience can hear and only some sensitive issues should be kept a secret. The reports should be done and issued out and the ratepayers should have a chance to raise issues in a meeting. If the issue is complex then submit the required documents before the next meeting to have it added on the agenda.

Lyndall Ensbey

Open meetings with a “no closed door” approach. I firmly support live streaming as a step to open and honest conduct as well as providing some ownership to ratepayers and residents. General business leads to better discussion and debate on issues as well as more opportunity for the media to report council matters. However the number of agenda items would need to be small to deal with them in a timely manner.

Originally published as