Once again we’re grateful to one of our readers who has alerted us to the following. The sublime irony of course is that councils such as this (and Glen Eira one would suspect) are desperate to be officially installed as the ‘third tier of government”.

Councils in confidence

By ABC’s      Ryan Sheales

Updated          October 06, 2011 15:29:42

It seems counter-intuitive.

At Parliament House in Canberra, taxpayer-funded staff film the deliberations of the both houses (and their various committees) and distribute the recordings to hungry journalists. Reporters are largely free to roam the halls, crossing paths with MPs and staffers.

A similarly relaxed environment exists at the Victorian Parliament, where journalists are also allowed free rein, can dine at the parliament’s eatery and film and record the Legislative Assembly and Council.

In each place, a set of guidelines exist so the media don’t get in the way, but access is generally unencumbered.

But it seems these liberties don’t extend to Australia’s lowest level of government.

Not if this reporter’s experiences at the Casey Council this week are any guide.

I visited Melbourne’s largest council, to the city’s south-east, to report on a heated local debate about whether the city’s veteran CEO should have his contract extended without the position being advertised.

I spoke to the council’s media liaison officer earlier in the day and as a courtesy (or so I thought) told her I’d be attending that night’s meeting with a camera crew.

An email soon appeared in my inbox.

In relation to your request to film, Casey’s Local Law states that … any application for … consent [to film] a Meeting must be made, in writing, at least twenty-four hours prior to the meeting to which the application applies.

Accepting this, we arrived an hour prior to the meeting to film the empty meeting chamber, but our camera was barred entry from the entire building.

Two, uniformed ‘Local Law Officers’ politely but firmly enforced this restriction.

The pair preceded to watch me for the duration of the council meeting, at one stage summoning me into the hallway to enquire if I’d been taking photos or making recordings on my mobile phone.

(For the record, I had taken some photos on my phone and the officer watched as I followed his request for it to be deleted.)

Similar restrictions are in place at other Victorian councils, though some do welcome and encourage media coverage.

The local government sector in Victoria employs about 42,500 people and spends roughly $6.1 billion of residents’ money each year.

The reality is that most ratepayers don’t attend council meetings.

If they’re to have any confidence that money is being spent wisely, it has to come through the media’s access and scrutiny of events.

If it’s good enough for state and federal parliaments to run an open-shop, why isn’t it good enough for some councils?

Ryan Sheales is an ABC journalist and former Victorian State Political Reporter.    First posted          October 06, 2011 12:51:05