By Sharon Webb

MEANDER VALLEY Council has banned the recording of its meetings without permission. The ban follows, as described by the council’s acting general manager Jonathan Harmey, ‘a small number of members of the public gallery videotaping our council meeting’ on December 10. In addition, Meander Valley has ‘invited’ local police to attend meetings when antiprison community members give notice that they will be asking questions at council meetings. When asked about this Mayor Wayne Johnston said, ‘The general manager requests police if needed. On both occasions that you refer to I have invited Inspector Flude to attend if he wishes. On both occasions he accepted.’ Cllr Johnston said he was not concerned about an outbreak of violence but would not give reasons for his invitation to the police. According to the statement released by Mr Harmey, following the December 10 council meeting, councillors and office staff met privately to determine ‘a revised process for meeting conduct’. The decision was not made in a public monthly council meeting. The move is out of step with other councils around the state who make meeting recordings available to the public in the interests of transparency. More than half of Tasmania’s 29 councils record their meetings. Six of those stream vision.

Meander Valley does neither. Every month, council places a PDF version of the meeting minutes on its website – without the questions and comments of councillors on agenda items unless councillors provide them in writing. Neither is there a record provided of councillors’ debate on agenda items, just the final vote by each councillor on each motion. Meander Valley’s ban on meeting recording comes after Westbury community members recorded questions and answers on the issue of the government’s proposed prison on Birralee Road. At the time those community members justified recording saying that they believed council minutes did not reflect accurately the answers to their prison-related questions in council meetings. When Mayor Wayne Johnston asked that they stop recording ‘because the council has no policy on recording council meetings’ they laughed and several continued recording. In his recording crackdown statement, Mr Harmey quoted 2015 local government regulations.

Visitors may not use a recording device (audio, video and still camera equipment or mobile phone capable of recording speech) at a council meeting without the prior permission of the chairperson. Council reserves the right to revoke permission at any time. A request to the chairperson must advise the express purpose for any recording. Unless expressly stated otherwise, Meander Valley Council claims copyright ownership of the content of any recordings. The recordings may not be uploaded, displayed or reproduced. Mr Harmey said that anyone found recording without authority would be asked by the meeting’s chair to stop and if the recording continued, the meeting would be suspended and the person recording asked to leave the meeting immediately.

Which Tasmanian councils record their meetings?

Audio recordings
Break O’Day, Burnie, Central Highlands, Derwent Valley, Devonport, George Town, Glamorgan Spring Bay, Glenorchy, King Island, Kingborough, Launceston, Southern Midlands.

Live streaming/ video recording
Break O’Day, Clarence, Glamorgan Spring Bay, Hobart, Latrobe, Launceston.

No recording, PDFs of minutes and agendas
Brighton, Central Coast, Circular Head, Dorset, Flinders, Huon Valley, Kentish, Meander Valley, Northern Midlands, Sorell, Tasman, WaratahWynyard, West Coast, West Tamar. Launceston, Break O’Day and Glamorgan Spring Bay Councils provide audio recording and live streaming