Council media ban not necessary - Goss
Good decisions will protect council’s reputation, not banning councillors from speaking to journalists, according to Baw Baw Shire councillor Danny Goss.
Cr Goss was speaking at council’s meeting last week opposing the council’s draft media policy.
Three councillors voted against the policy presented to council last week, with Crs Goss and Darren Wallace saying officers had no right imposing restrictions on who elected councillors could speak to.
The media policy, which sets out who can speak to media outlets about council decisions and business, was adopted last week.
When elected, councillors signed a code of conduct, which already set out the mayor as official spokesperson and stated individual councillors could speak with the media provided they made it clear it was their personal and unofficial views.
A report to council said the media policy aimed to ensure “a consistent approach when dealing with the media.”
Officers said the policy was important to “protect council’s reputation by ensuring consistency and accuracy in the information council places in the public realm.”
Cr Goss wished councillors good luck in thinking a media policy would protect council’s reputation. “Good decisions protect council’s reputation,” he said.
“I don’t see that it’s necessary that I should be subjected to this sort of thing.
“This is already covered by the code of conduct that I have already signed.
Cr Goss said he did not want to be told who to talk to. “I will talk to whoever I want to talk to if that’s ok.”
“Why do I need to be told to be careful talking to a journalist, it’s condescending.
He said it also was wrong that the media policy also told journalists how they have to operate.
“This is too much red tape, it’s unnecessary,” Cr Goss said.
Cr Wallace said councillors were elected representatives of the community, not council employees.
He said the media policy was already covered in sections 10 and 12 of the code of conduct.
Cr Wallace said he could not support the policy while it applied to councillors.
Moving that council adopt the policy, Cr Mikaela Power said the policy helped councillors to be clear on who spoke on what.
She said going through the policy meant everyone was clear on their roles.
Cr Power said it was clear in the policy and code of conduct that councillors could speak on relevant matters.
She said the policy included a defensive mechanism because there had been “incidents that put us in this position.”
Cr Jessica O’Donnell said it was good to have a policy that set uniformity across the organisation, especially when decisions had been made at VCAT about what councillors can and cannot say.
The policy states that the mayor will be the official spokesperson for council policy matters while the chief executive officer will speak to media on operational matters.
The policy states councillors can speak to media but not as an official spokesperson. The policy warns councillors to “be careful” when speaking to journalists before a matter is considered by council so that they do not “exhibit apprehended bias” and be aware of the potential interpretation of their comments.
The policy also instructs journalists to direct all inquiries through the shire’s communications unit and not directly contact the chief executive, mayor, councillors or staff.
Council staff will attempt to reply to all media inquiries within 48 hours of being received.
Cr Goss called for a division on the vote. Crs Power, O’Donnell, Peter Kostos, Keith Cook and Joe Gauci were in favour while against were Crs Goss, Wallace and Michael Leaney.