These draft policies were open for community feedback from June to August 2024:

  1. Councillor Code of Conduct
  2. Councillor Gifts, Benefits and Hospitality Policy
  3. Livestreaming of Council Meetings Policy
  4. Public Transparency Policy
  5. Councillor Support Policy
  6. Revoked: Councillor Transparency Policy
  7. Revoked: Councillor Respectful Conduct Policy
  8. Revoked: Councillor Protocol.

We wanted everyone in our community to have a say on these changes. To help people review the policies we prepared a Consultation Explainer to summarise all the changes.

Feedback

We invited all members of the community to take part and share their feedback on the proposed changes.

We sought community feedback from 20 June 2024 to 18 July 2024.

Over the 4 week consultation process, 7 submissions were received:

  • 3 responses provided no relevant feedback.
  • 2 responses were complimentary of the changes and method of presentation.
  • 1 response gave feedback on the format of the consultation and suggested each policy should have had a separate comments section.
  • 1 response gave feedback that that the councillor code of conduct should address the issue of ostracization based on political beliefs.

Outcome

At the Council Meeting on the 20 August 2024, having considered all submissions received, Council resolved to adopt the final drafts of the revised Councillor Code of Conduct; Councillor Gifts, Benefits and Hospitality Policy; Live Streaming of Council Meetings Policy; Public Transparency Policy; and Councillor Support Policy and revoke the Councillor Transparency Policy; Councillor Respectful Conduct Policy; and Councillor Protocol.

This community feedback did not result in changes to the draft documents, but did provide insight into the community’s views on the proposed changes to our governance policies.

You can find information about governance at Brimbank City Council on our website.