Governance Rules Revision

Councils are required to adopt and maintain governance rules which outline the rules for Council meetings, as well as a number of other governance matters. Wellington Shire Council's governance rules were first adopted in September 2020 as required by the introduction of the Local Government Act 2020. These rules remained in place, unchanged, throughout the pandemic where Councils transitioned to a virtual environment under temporary emergency provisions as set out in the Ministerial Good Practice Guideline MGPG-1: Virtual Meetings.

In March 2022, the making of the Regulatory Legislation Amendment (Reform) Act 2022 resulted in changes to the Local Government Act 2020 to provide for attendance and participation in Council meetings and delegated committees by electronic means of communication. These changes replace the existing temporary emergency provisions and will commence on 2 September 2022.

A number of amendments have been proposed and do the following:

• widen the definition of being present at a meeting to include attendance by electronic means;
• processes around requesting and being approved for electronic attendance;

• make permanent the current temporary measures relating to the need to live stream any meeting that is held solely by electronic means;
• provide guidance for a virtual public gallery; and
• create a process for any technical issues that arise during the normal meeting process.

‍Council has also taken this opportunity to make a number of minor updates within the rules to increase efficiencies.

Please read the Governance Rules Revision document below before you provide your feedback.

How to have your say

There are two options available for submissions:

1. ‍Online: via Your Wellington Your Say
2. Hardcopy: Your submission should be addressed to: Governance, Wellington Shire Council, 18 Desailly Street (PO Box 506), Sale VIC 3850 and marked as GOVERNANCE RULES REVISION.

Any person proposing to make a written submission on the Governance Rules Revision must do so no later than 5pm on Wednesday 20 July 2022.

What happens next?

Once you have provided your feedback, we will collate, review and analyse the feedback received. Council will take all submissions into consideration for the Governance Rules Review.

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