Thank you to everyone who provided feedback on the proposed changes to Council's Chapter 3 Governance Rules - Community Participation in Council Meetings.

The final document was adopted by Council on Monday 30 October 2023 (with amendments) and now officially forms Chapter 3 in the Governance Rules at Banyule which will come into effect from 1 November 2023.

Amendments made to the Rules as a result of your feedback, officer recommendations and Council resolution:

• Request to Speak: the maximum time a person can speak to an agenda item is 2 minutes, with an extension at the discretion of the Mayor or Chair.
• Request to Speak for head petition submitter: the maximum time a head submitter can speak on behalf of a group is 2 minutes, or as determined by the Mayor or Chairperson.
• The removal of section 68 (12) Public Questions: the names of people who have submitted a Public Question will not be available to Councillors and Council staff.
• A change to rule 68 (10) Public Questions: a Public Question will not be read out if the submitter is not present at the Council meeting.
• The inclusion of the sub-rules relating to repetitious petitions:
  • When a petition is submitted, and the subject has already been considered by Council in the last six months and has not been resolved, the petition will not be considered as a new petition.
  • When a petition is submitted opposing a petition that has been submitted to Council in the last six months, the opposing petition will be provided to the relevant Council department and they will liaise directly with the lead petitioner. Electronic or online petitions must contain the name and email address of each person. This information will be considered the same as the signature of the person.

To view the Meeting minutes and papers, go to Council's website.

Community Participation in Council Meetings

In November 2022, Council adopted its Governance Rules and Election Policy and committed to undertaking Stage 2 of the Governance Rules review in 2023.

The Stage 2 review has created a new chapter in our Governance Rules, Chapter 3, and acts as a one stop resource for all information on community participation in council meetings.

From 29 June to 20 July 2023, we asked for your feedback on the proposed changes to Council's draft Chapter 3 Governance Rules - Community Participation in Council Meetings.

60 people provided feedback through online and in-person activities including:

• 38 people completing an online survey
• 18 people attending an in-person community workshop,
• 3 people emailing us directly
• 1 person submitting their feedback via mail.

What you told us:

View the full findings report.

This feedback, as well as a formal gender impact assessment, has been considered and is reflected in Council's draft Chapter 3 Governance Rules - Community Participation in Council Meetings, which will go to Council for consideration and adoption on 30 October 2023.

The Governance Rules and Election Period Policy was adopted by Council on 14 November 2022 with one amendment:

• Councillor speaking time for ‘right of reply’ was extended from the proposed time of 1 minute to a speaking time of 2 minutes.

Watch a recording of the Council Meeting or view the Council minutes and report here.

What you told us

In September 2022, we asked for your feedback on the proposed changes to the Governance Rules. We received 21 contributions to our online survey on Shaping Banyule with overwhelming support for the proposed changes. See levels of support below.