MILDURA Council has backflipped on one element of a proposed media policy that will limit the free speech of councillors.
However, several other controversial conditions remain in the proposal.
READ MORE: Mildura councillors face vote on new code for comments
OPINION: Mildura councillors must reject policy of silence
Under a media relations policy recommended for adoption at Wednesday’s meeting, the community’s elected representatives would have been banned from speaking out against official council decisions or organisational policies.
Mildura Council late yesterday removed the ban from the policy proposal, saying it was an “administrative error”.
The move came after Sunraysia Daily questioned chief executive Sarah Philpott early yesterday about aspects of the new policy and councillors raised concerns about having the ability to speak freely about council issues.
Ms Philpott said changes to the policy were intended to bring councillors under the same policy guidelines as council staff.
However it is understood that several councillors were concerned the media policy would reduce transparency within the council.
Most of Mildura’s newly elected councillors ran on a platform of greater transparency between the council and the community.
But councillors will still consider an inclusion in the policy that would prevent them using the media or social media to make “negative personal reflections on each other, council staff or council”.
The proposed policy update, if adopted, will also direct councillors to support the council’s official release of information and not release information independently and to treat all off-the-record conversations with media as on the record, whether or not an interview had been agreed upon.
Five of Mildura’s nine councillors are new in the role and will be exposed to the new specifications if the policy gains support at Wednesday’s final meeting of councillors for 2020.
In a report to be presented to Wednesday’s meeting, Mildura Council corporate general manager Chris Parham said the policy had been refined “to provide greater clarity to elected representatives when dealing with the media”.
“The Media Relations Policy guides council’s media relations activities and specifies procedures and protocols for how staff and councillors interact with the media and journalists,” Mr Parham said.
He said the policy had been thoroughly reviewed by relevant staff in consultation with the council’s “strategic management team”.
Councillors were told the policy was reviewed every three years.
While a new addition to the policy titled under “Councillors and the media” this year says councillors have been elected to represent the community “and are free to communicate to the community” including through the media, clear restrictions have been proposed.
They include:
– Making it clear (councillors) are expressing a personal opinion and not purporting to represent a position of council.
– Not disclosing information classified as confidential to the media, including confidential information provided during briefings, workshops or meetings.
– Refraining from using the media or social media to make negative personal reflections on each other, council staff or council.
Councillors have been recommended to adopt the updated policy.
