Council CEO given new editing powers for meeting transcripts over defamation concerns

New powers will be given to the Brisbane City Council chief executive to edit council meeting transcripts before they are published.

Cries of “political censorship” rang out in City Hall over new powers given to Brisbane City Council chief executive Colin Jensen to edit council meeting transcripts before publication.

Labor, Greens and Independent councillors were up in arms claiming the changes would be used by the LNP administration to censor criticism against them.

Mr Jensen already has the ability to edit council minutes, where necessary, but the changes allow him to remove references to council officers’ names, and words requested by the chair to be withdrawn during council meetings.

Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner said the changes reduced the risk of potential defamation action against council and ratepayers footing the legal bills.

Brisbane City Council CEO Colin Jensen. Picture: Tara Croser.

“We see time and time again here … one of the councillors or the chair asks for them (another councillor) to withdraw a comment, and so in the process of withdrawing, the (meeting) minutes can be updated to reflect the fact,” he said.

“We do not have parliamentary privilege (a legal defence against defamation) in this place (unlike state parliament).

“So publishing potentially defamatory statements in the Hansard minutes exposes not only the councillor, but council itself.”

Independent councillor Nicole Johnston said the changes would be used to strike any criticism of the LNP from public record.

“It is completely an LNP chair telling the CEO what to do and he goes away and does it – that is essentially what is being proposed here. That is political censorship,” she said.

Greens Brisbane City Councillor Jonathan Sriranganathan. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Dan Peled

Greens Councillor Jonathan Sriranganathan echoed censorship concerns.

“It would be deeply concerning if there was a situation where the chair asks me to withdraw a comment, I respectfully decline, and then the chair goes and edits that or asks the CEO to edit that without my consent,” he said.

“That raises quite legitimate concerns around censorship.”

Opposition leader Jared Cassidy said the Lord Mayor has the power to direct the CEO.

“One of the reasons they give for wanting this power to edit Council transcripts is to

‘remove any slip of the tongue’. What, like facts getting out to ratepayers?” Cr Cassidy said.

“We don’t need the CEO, who is unelected and not accountable to the community, to have the power to alter the official record of the decisions made in the council chamber.”

During council’s final meeting of the year on Tuesday, the changes were voted on and passed 18-6, and will now come into effect.

Before being published, the state parliament Hansard is removed of any “redundancies, obvious grammatical errors, slips of the tongue and factual anomalies”.