Live streaming of Ballarat City Council meetings to be considered

Live streaming of Ballarat City Council meetings

Ballarat City Council will consider approving live streaming of ordinary and special council meetings at its 12 September Ordinary Council Meeting.

The recommendation to go before the councillors is for a live streaming service through the council’s website.

The estimated cost of this option would be $16,000, including hardware and software.

However, three other options will be put forward for consideration including streaming straight to the internet via Facebook or You Tube ($16,000), a fully outsourced option ($100,000 per annum) and broadcasting via radio providing audio only ($1000-$2000).

Council undertook a review of the 79 other Victorian councils to determine if and how they live stream their meetings, with 25 councils currently providing some form of live streaming.

Benefits of live streaming would be:

Access increased to more community members not able to attend in person Increased transparency and public disclosure Greater public participation Enhanced community engagement outcomes Show the detailed level of debate and discussion councillors engage in before making decisions

However, some risk management areas were also identified, including:

Defamation, as no parliamentary privilege applies to councillors, council officers or members of the public Capturing personal information, including images, voices and names of members of the public, on the recording Personal liability exposure for councillors and council Record retention and management

It has been recommended council implement a new policy or procedure to govern live streaming of its meetings to minimise risk exposure for defamation and/or release of confidential information.

This would include:

Delaying the broadcast by a few seconds, similar to television and radio broadcasts The broadcast edited to remove any comments that could give rise to defamation, with a notation the broadcast has been edited Only councillors are captured by live streaming, and only first names or surnames used for members of the public and council officers Additional notice of the live streaming is given to the public via the agenda, placed at the Council Chambers entry and advised verbally by the mayor at the start of the meeting