Queensland Mayors will no longer be able to be “shut down”, “silenced” or “gagged” to speak to the media, if new reforms announced by the State Government go ahead.
Earlier this year, a group of councillors led by Paul Tully, attempted to use a legislative loophole to prevent Mayor Teresa Harding to speak at press events.
If the motion had gone ahead it would have meant councillors who chair specific portfolios replace Mayor Harding as the lead spokesperson.
Meanwhile, lpswich Mayor Teresa Harding has praised the proposed legislative change by the state government to reinstate all Queensland Mayors as lead spokesperson on council.
“Cr Tully’s motion sent a shockwave through Queensland councils, making it glaringly obvious the Act did not have the power to prevent councillors from stripping responsibilities away from mayors who had been democratically elected by their communities.
“Cr Tully’s motion proposed changes to Council’s Media and Corporate Communications Policy to remove the mayor as a spokesperson on any matter related to a decision of Council or any of its current portfolios. This effectively represented a gag on a democratically elected mayor,” said Mayor Harding.
“The outrageous nature of this motion prompted a swift response from the Ipswich community as well as local and national media, which thankfully prevented the motion from proceeding in its original form,” she said.
Premier David Crissafulli announced the reforms in front of all 77 councils at the annual Local Government Association of Queensland conference on the Gold Coast this week.
Other proposed changes to the Local Government Act include reducing red tape, streamlining processes and winding back powers by the Office of the Independent Assessor over low-level conduct complaints to focus on the more serious misconduct or corruption allegations.
The legislative amendments will be introduced into state parliament before the end of the year.
