Get involved in a council meeting

Our meetings are recorded and live streamed on this website. Meetings are also promoted to the community ahead of their scheduled time via social media. Recordings are made publicly available on this website and our Facebook page within 24 hours of the meeting (unless technical issues occur, which will be sorted promptly).

Sections of the meeting that are closed in accordance with Section 66 (2) of the Local Government Act 2020 are not included in the public recording. The recordings will be accessible on this website for a maximum of 2 years. Recordings are primarily focused on the Mayor and councillors, and every care is taken to maintain privacy.

Any person who walks behind or in front of a councillor’s seat may be incidentally filmed and recorded in the footage. Public speakers addressing Council are visible on the live stream and, therefore, included on the recording. Any comments made by members of the gallery may also be captured.

You can request to speak about any item listed on a meeting agenda. You can submit a request any time from when a meeting agenda is published up to midday on the day of the meeting.

You can address Council by:

• written submission to be read out
• pre-recorded video message
• pre-recorded audio message
• speaking in person.

All submissions will be presented to Council before the related agenda item is considered. We are unable to accept presentations or additional information  with your request to speak.

We limit the number of speakers to 3 for and 3 against any proposal before Council considers the agenda item.

You may speak about 2 items on the agenda, and you will have 2 minutes to do so with no summary allowed. Organisations should choose 1 spokesperson to address Council.

Request to speak

Members of the public have an opportunity to submit a public question to be read out and answered at the end of a Council meeting. If asking a question on behalf of a group, you will need to explain the nature of the group and your agency.

You may ask 1 public question per meeting. It must be submitted by 12pm on the Friday before a Council meeting.

In order for your public question to be read out and answered you must be in attendance at the Council meeting. All question and answers will be recorded in the minutes of that Council meeting regardless of attendance.

Please note that:

• you can remain anonymous to the community only or choose for your identity to be published with the meeting minutes (name and suburb)
• you will not remain anonymous to Council staff and councillors
• if you are present in the gallery, and have not requested to remain anonymous, your question will be read out
• if you are present in the gallery, and you have requested to be anonymous, your question will not be read out.

As noted in rule 68 of the Governance Rules and Election Period Policy (dealing with public questions, and available in Italian, Chinese and Somali languages), a public question may be disallowed if the Mayor or Chair, upon advice from the Chief Executive officer and Manager Governance and Integrity, determines that the question:

• is not submitted in accordance with rule 68 of these Governance Rules
• relates to a matter outside of the duties, functions and powers of Council
• is defamatory, indecent, abusive, offensive, irrelevant, trivial or objectionable in language or substance
• deals with subject matter already answered at the Council meeting
• is aimed at embarrassing a councillor or a member of Council staff, or relates to the personal views or actions of an individual councillor or member of Council staff
• relates to the conduct or performance of a councillor or member of Council staff
• relates to personnel matters, matters regarding the personal hardship of an resident or ratepayer, industrial matters, contractual matters, proposed developments, legal advice, matters affecting the security of Council staff or our property, or any other matter that we consider would prejudice us or any person
• would require the advice of the Chief Executive Officer
• would require an unreasonable diversion of our resources if a response were to be prepared for public question time
• cannot be answered without disclosing confidential information as defined by section 3 of the Act or otherwise breaching our confidentiality requirements under any other legislation
• relates to a councillor conduct matter which is currently subject to a formal process, such as an internal arbitration, councillor conduct panel process
• relates to information which is legally privileged or any activity which is currently the subject of a legal investigation
• has been previously asked and answered by Council in the last 12 months through a formal public question.

Submit a question

You may submit a petition to Council to request action or ask that action not be taken.  Submitted petitions must:

• be on the appropriate Council petition template(DOCX, 16KB)
• be in legible and permanent writing
• be clear, with the relevant matter and action sought from Council stated on each page
• not be derogatory, defamatory, or objectionable in language or nature
• not relate to matters outside the powers of Council
• include the names, addresses and original signatures of at least 10 people.

Section 69 (page 34) of our governance rules provides all relevant information on how to submit a petition and the petition process.

What happens to the petition once submitted

Where a petition has been signed by less than 10 people, it will be treated as a joint letter and forwarded directly to the appropriate Council department for action as an operational item to be dealt with by the relevant work area. It will not be tabled at a Council meeting.

Acknowledgment will be sent by an officer in the actioning department to the person who submits it to us, or the first named/principal petitioner on the first page of the petition.

Our normal practice is to make every endeavour to table the petition at the next ordinary Council meeting (if submitted within appropriate timeframes) following receipt.

A report on the petition will be included in the agenda for the Council meeting, outlining actions taken or recommending a course of action. The report will replicate the request in full and advise of the number of signatures.

The first named petitioner or the person submitting the petition will be advised of the outcome in writing after the meeting.

A request to speak option will be available on the petition when it is listed on the agenda for the ordinary Council meeting.

Privacy and personal information

The personal information you provide is managed in line with our privacy policy.

We collect personal information provided when submitting a petition:

• to review the petition for suitability according to our rules and guidelines
• to contact you about the petition, outcomes of the review and the presentation of it to Council
• for other directly or reasonably related purposes.

The information you provide will be available to:

• officers within our Governance Team
• councillors
• to persons accessing information under the Freedom of Information Act 1982.

We may also use the information as part of our commitment to continuously improve our services.

Without collection of your personal information, we will not be able to put forward your petition at a Council meeting. If you wish to access or alter any of the personal information you have supplied, contact our Governance Team by at council.meetings@banyule.vic.gov.au