Amended Governance Rules improve question time

Published on 01 July 2025

Loddon Shire Council has listened to community feedback regarding proposed changes to its Governance Rules.

Council adopted the amendments to the rules at its meeting on Friday, 20 June, after changes were released for public comment earlier in the year.

Proposed changes to the rules included expanding the scope of questions allowed during Public Question Time to anything relating to a matter within the duties, functions and powers of Council and that questions must not be on any matter previously responded to by Council in the past six months.

Previously questions could only be asked of matters on the Council agenda and could not relate to any matter previously responded to by Council at all.

While those changes to the Governance Rules were adopted, a proposal to discontinue livestreaming of meetings and instead provide on-demand access to a recording on a Council social media platform was retracted.

Community feedback received largely opposed that change, and Council resolved to continue livestreaming its public meetings with further work having been undertaken to resolve the issues leading to that proposed change.

Loddon Shire Mayor Dan Straub said livestreaming was important for those members of the community who wished to watch council meetings but could not attend in person at the Wedderburn chambers.

“We have resolved an issue which previously caused problems when Councillors who could not attend a meeting had to dial in to the livestream,” he said.

“Council is also working on upskilling extra staff to undertake the livestream broadcast, so we have backup staff to do this.

“We thank the community for having their say on this matter, and we have listened.”

Council livestreams will also move off the Facebook platform in future and be made accessible via YouTube, enabling permanent retention of past meetings on Council’s website so the meetings can be watched at any time in future and made available to a wider audience.