Transparency promised by Incumbent Mayor Jenny Hill ahead of Townsville election

Incumbent Townsville Mayor Jenny Hill has vowed to make the way council does business more open than ever before by publishing datasets and streaming more meetings online.

Incumbent mayor Jenny Hill has promised to begin live streaming all council committee meetings in addition to full council meetings. Picture: Shae Beplate.

• Townsville’s ballot draw revealed

Incumbent Townsville Mayor Jenny Hill has vowed to make the way council does business more open than ever before by publishing datasets and streaming more meetings online.

As the Townsville mayoral race heats up with just four weeks remaining until the polls, Team Jenny Hill has released its latest policy document, ‘Open Townsville’.

In it, Ms Hill has committed to creating an Open Data Townsville online portal where all datasets that can legally be released are available for public access.

She said this would allow key statistics, information, facts and figures to be available free of charge to residents and businesses.

Ms Hill also promised to start live-streaming council committee meetings in addition to full council meetings, which are already broadcast.

“It’s absolutely essential that the community have trust in their council,” Ms Hill said.

Mayor Jenny Hill has promised to live stream council committee meetings in addition to full council meetings if re-elected. Picture: Evan Morgan

“Under my leadership, council has implemented a range of measures that has seen Walker Street far more accountable and open than ever before.”

Under her watch, she said council also had a “clean bill of health” from the Queensland Audit Office for the past four years, as reported in the Queensland parliament.

Ms Hill said she remained committed to continuing to pay down the council’s debt.

When she came into office in 2012, Ms Hill said she inherited a council that was paying an interest bill of over $23 million per year.

In the 2023-24 financial year, interest repayments have almost been reduced to just over $18 million – but she says more work remains to be done.

Ms Hill said she wants to diversify the council’s business and investment portfolio in order to ease the burden on ratepayers.

Originally published as Transparency promised by Incumbent Mayor Jenny Hill ahead of Townsville election