From Channel 9 News –
Permission needed to vet councillors’ email
10:48 AEST Tue Aug 9 2011
Bureaucrats will no longer intercept the emails of Gold Coast City councillors without their permission. A row erupted last week when Mayor Ron Clarke discovered emails from two people classed as serial pests were being intercepted and screened by senior officials.
Some emails, threatening violence, have been referred to police.
While a few councillors are happy to have nuisance emails screened, most objected.
Council voted on Monday to immediately stop officials intercepting incoming emails or letters.
The mayor’s motion that “under no circumstances can the Chief Executive Officer or any administrative staff, intervene or censor any mail, be it electronic or standard” was carried nine votes to four.
Mr Clarke says any councillor who does want pest emails diverted or stopped can simply give the CEO permission to intercept them.
“To me the principle is that no bureaucrat interferes in any way, shape or form, with any email or mail or telephone calls to councillors,” he told AAP on Tuesday.
“Councillors are there to represent the people and for better or worse, wherever they come from, they should be able to handle their correspondence otherwise they shouldn’t be in the position.
“More importantly the ratepayers should be confident that whatever they send to their councillors will get to them.”
The mayor said he’s happy to get emails even from serial pests labelled as “vexatious complainants”. “You don’t want emails saying what a good job you’re doing all the time, you want to find out what you’re not doing right and who is being upset,” he said.
COMMENT: Several public questions over the years have asked why emails to councillors have at times been intercepted by various officers PRIOR to their being received by the councillors to whom such emails were addressed. The responses have been that councillors ‘agreed’ to this ‘policy’. As far as we know, such a ‘policy’ has never seen the light of day, and certainly the current crop of councillors have never officially voted on such a surveillance technique. Perhaps councillors would be willing to state openly their opinion(s) on this issue and whether or not they believe that their private communications to residents and colleagues, (whether or not it is on so called ‘council business’) should be hijacked by various unelected officials?
Glen Eira Debates 
September 29, 2011 at 1:03 PM
Some councillors have guts. Not Glen Eira ones. Newton’s created a terrific spy system that’s got them all scared stiff.
September 29, 2011 at 1:21 PM
That GE adminstrative staff are intercepting and vetting emails from residents to Councillors is appalling. It is onething for Councillors to forward emails received from residents to administrative staff seeking additional information or understanding. It is a totally different thing for those emails to be accessed by administrative staff before it is even read by Councillors.
I wonder how much this is costing the ratepayers and how happy they are going to be to find out their money is being spent to intercept their communications with their elected representatives. I for one am not happy.
September 29, 2011 at 1:51 PM
If any of this is true and accurate then I’m appalled. If I decide to write to any councillor and this correspondence is vetted by anonymous individuals then I would expect that residents are informed of this in big bold letters preferably on the homepage. I would also expect to be told exactly who is privy to my private communications and why these individuals get to read my email. I can understand that in certain instances officers might need access in order to respond to a problem or find out further information. But, and this is a big but, this should only be done when the councillor decides it is necessary and I have been informed that this will be done.
September 29, 2011 at 2:11 PM
who says that glen eira’s email for councillors are being vetted by other parties before the councillor/s read them? or did i read the original posting wrong.
I must admit you get some fair stupid replies on the mayors behalf, when you email the mayor.
September 30, 2011 at 11:05 AM
Try a read receipt when you email councillors and then check the times opened. That will tell you the whole story as it told me. Strange people got to them before councillors.
September 29, 2011 at 2:48 PM
This quote, from the above article, says it all
“Councillors are there to represent the people and for better or worse, wherever they come from, they should be able to handle their correspondence otherwise they shouldn’t be in the position”
September 29, 2011 at 8:23 PM
I was told by a Councillor that all mail sent to the Town Hall specifically addressed to councillors is opened by staff prior to being passed on to the Councillor/s concerned. I presume what he told me is correct. I do not know about emails.
September 29, 2011 at 11:51 PM
Ron Clarke and the other councillors deserve a gold medal for putting the bureaucrats back in their box.
September 30, 2011 at 8:02 AM
If this is happening in Glen Eira then I agree with the above posts – the notion that administrative staff open and vet communications specifically addressed to others is atrocious. The Admin and Councillor’s need to make a statement either denying or admitting this practice.
If this is occurring in GE then, at the very least, a prominent notice of this practice should appear on Council’s website and in every issue of the Glen Eira News.
September 30, 2011 at 8:59 AM
That last comment is hard to believe, but if correct, it’s appalling, unless each councillors has agreed that that action is OK.
Otherwise, it is just snooping.