We’re reviewing our Governance Rules to enhance the overall effectiveness of decision making and meeting procedures at the City of Port Phillip.
These rules, which govern the procedures for Council meetings, play a critical role in ensuring transparency, accountability, and the overall effectiveness of decision-making within Council. By providing clear guidelines for how meetings are conducted, the Governance Rules are fundamental to maintaining a well-functioning and effective governance framework.
The City of Port Phillip is recognised for having some of the highest levels of community engagement and public involvement in Council meetings across the local government sector. This strong participation enriches our democratic processes by ensuring decisions reflect the values and concerns of our community. However, under the current meeting rules, this high level of engagement has led to meetings frequently running overtime. This poses potential risks to the health and safety of attendees and may impact the quality of decision-making. Council is committed to upholding transparent and inclusive public participation while balancing occupational health and safety responsibilities. We’re working towards a more effective meeting structure that supports meaningful community input without compromising wellbeing or efficiency.
What you can influence on this project
Your feedback will shape decisions about:
- Reduce public speaking time.
- Amend the public participation registration closure time.
- Increase the minimum number of signatures required to be tabled at Council
- Amend the deadline for submitting Petitions and Joint Letters
- Only permit the lead submitter or their representative to speak to the Petition or Joint Letters at a Council meeting.
The previous Council term requested officers to undertake a review of the Governance Rules due to a recurring pattern of meetings running late.
Council officers sought feedback from the former Councillors in August 2024 and a benchmarking exercise was conducted in late 2024 as part of this proposal to compare the City of Port Phillip’s Governance rules against those of neighbouring councils, to allow the City of Port Phillip and the community to consider best- practice.
In early 2025, officers presented the findings of the benchmarking exercise to the new Councillors and recommended proposed changes to the Governance Rules. With the knowledge that Model Governance Rules are likely to be released later in 2025, Councillors were supportive of undertaking a review.
The benchmarking identified that the City of Port Phillip has one of the highest levels of community engagement and public participation at Council meetings across the Local Government Sector. This has resulted in a recurring pattern of meetings running late under the existing rules which creates challenges, including health and safety concerns and the risk of reduced effectiveness in decision making.
