Hilltops Council has suppressed the audio on last month’s monthly meeting held on November 27 at Boorowa. In that meeting Councillor Roles stated, “Mr Mayor I have an urgent late notice that I’d like to be considered at this meeting. I believe I can do it under the code of meeting practice policy 93. My motion, Mr Mayor, I would like to move that a motion of no confidence be considered by Council. I consider this motion to be of great urgency and in the interest of the organisation, believe that it cannot wait until the meeting of next Council.
Audio has then been removed from the recorded live stream at 6:23 minutes with a yellow caption displayed, which states ‘Audio suppressed for legal reasons.’ Audio commences again at 24:22 minutes
As the audio was streamed live on November 27 those viewers at home or on their device have already listened to the audio live. It has now placed Council in a precarious position.
Part 5.2 of the livestream policy states, “Ordinary and Extraordinary Meetings that are streamed live will be made available on Council’s website within the earliest achievable timeframe following the relevant meeting. The recordings of Meetings will be available for the term of the Council. Following any meeting, the Chair and the General manager have the discretion and authority to direct the exclusion of all or part of any meeting recording that are considered inappropriate to be published. Material considered to be inappropriate may include, but is not limited to material that may: Be defamatory, Infringe copyright, Breach the privacy of an individual or unauthorised disclosure of the personal information of an individual, Be offensive, Constitute discrimination, Constitute racial hatred or vilification, if based on the race, colour, national or ethnic origin of a person or group of people, and is likely to offend, insult, humiliate or intimidate, Disclose confidential or privileged information.”
According to the policy “In the event of an edited copy being placed on the Council’s website, Council will indicate that it is an edited recording. Council will also retain a copy of the unedited meeting webcast.”
It is unclear what part of the policy Council is relying on which suppresses the audio for a total of 18 minutes. Council has been contacted for comment.
