IN MOST democracies, government meetings are open for their citizens to attend and observe proceedings.
It is part of open government. This is the case in the Cardinia shire where ratepayers and interested parties can attend open to the public council meetings, that is if you are free to do so at 4pm on a Monday afternoon.
Most ratepayers still have to go to work to earn a living. Although working hours are now more flexible than in the past, the majority of workers still don’t finish before 45pm on weekdays.
What time would you have to knock off in Cockatoo or Lang Lang to travel to Pakenham to be at the 4pm meetings?
And if ratepayers work outside the shire boundaries as the majority do, what hope have they of being at the Pakenham Council Chambers at 4pm?
One only has to observe the traffic congestion at all the traffic lights that keep popping up like mushrooms along the Pakenham section of the Princes Highway parking lot between 46pm any weekday to see the answer.
What would the employers’ reaction be if workers said: “I would like to finish at lunch time on Monday so I can attend the council meeting?”
If you are selfemployed, particularly in small business like a shop keeper, do you just put a sign in your window ‘Closed for the afternoon. Gone to the Cardinia Council meeting?’
What are your priorities at 4pm if you are the parent primary carer (we used to be able to say the mum) of young and/or school aged children? Picking them up from school, running them to their after school activities, supervising their homework, preparing the evening meal etc.
What hope have you got of attending a council meeting? Where can you get a baby sitter at this time of the day? Who can afford it? And if you are a working parent primary carer the chances of attending a 4pm council meeting are almost reduced to zero.
The Cardinia Shire meetings are available on the Internet. You see only what the cameras and microphone picks up. Ask any employee will their boss allow them to watch it real time or ask any parent of young children who is on the internet after school.
With the upcoming council elections, does this 4pm meeting time place a barrier to worthy candidates nominating? Is it an artificial restriction preventing Cardinia having the best range of candidates to produce effective representative local government?
The fact that large numbers don’t attend council meetings does not indicate people are not interested in local government issues that affect their lives.
The Cardinia council was elected to serve the ratepayers of Cardinia. By setting council meetings at a time when the large majority of Cardinia ratepayers can not attend may serve sectional interest within council but it does not appear to serve the best interests of the majority of ratepayers.
Do you feel frustrated at being one of those disenfranchised by the Cardinia Council meeting times? It is suggested you are not alone, in fact we think you are among the majority.
By the way, not all Cardinia Council meetings are open to the public. Briefing meetings, where all issues are open for discussion and decided before ‘formal’ council meetings, are not open to the public and no minutes of these meetings are available for public scrutiny.
Meetings covering ‘sensitive issues’ as broadly defined by the council are also not open to the public.
