Kingston Council build $40k ‘pool fence’ to keep out public
Kingston Council is under fire after spending close to $40k on a security fence to protect councillors from the community.
South East
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Suburban ratepayers have forked out almost $40,000 on a “pool fence” to help local pollies keep their distance from the public during meetings.
The $39,940 glass barrier has been installed at Kingston Council’s Cheltenham chambers to separate councillors and the community.
It was considered a necessary step after other councils had to cancel, postpone and move meetings online due to a disruptive gallery.
“Kingston is committed to holding council meetings in person whenever possible, to ensure our community can be present,” Kingston general manager for customer and corporate support Dan Hogan said.
“The design enables attendees to still be able to see and hear everything, while remaining a respectful and safe distance from those working in an official capacity.”
However, not all councillors supported the move.
Cr Georgina Oxley said it was a “waste of money”.
“From my perspective there have been no incidents in our council to warrant this,” she said.
“Residents have a right to come along and listen, some people may scoff or clap in the gallery, people are allowed to indicate that they disagree with a council decision.”
She said there were already safety precautions in place for any incidents.
“Security is already present, they are able to manage any incident without putting a big fence between the community and the council,” she said.
“We are supposed to represent the community, but this has created a clear physical divide.”
Cr David Eden also rejected the need for a fence.
“Spending $40,000 on a pool style fence in the council chamber is a wasteful exercise,” he said.
“Particularly, while other important community grants and projects, like upgrading of female change rooms, are overlooked.”
Council Watch President Dean Hurlston said the fence represented “everything wrong with local government at the moment”.
“This is more evidence that local government is so obsessed with itself that it’s using resident backlash to their behaviour to turn it around and blame the residents,” he said.
“For me, it says to the community ‘you’re dangerous and you’re not welcome at our meetings’.”
Mr Hurlston said the fence exacerbated a “fear narrative”.
“We expect communities to enter into robust debate,” he said.
