Public outburst closes council meeting early

The conduct policy of Rural City of Wangaratta council meetings is under review after last week’s meeting was suddenly ended as a result of disruptive behaviour. Mayor Irene Grant was tasked with calling a specific member of the public gallery to order following continuous audible talking throughout the almost two-hour-long meeting. Following requests for the woman to be quiet, the disruption came to a head just prior to public question time towards the end of the meeting. Cr Harvey Benton was reading out the amounts for community grants and the woman caught the attention of councillors and officers when she started waving her hands in the fashion of conducting an orchestra. Cr Grant asked Cr Benton to cease talking so she could manage the situation. “Can I ask you to please be quiet,” Cr Grant said. The woman blamed the microphone for being switched on as a reason why she was audible, however, Cr Grant indicated that she could still hear her interruptions otherwise. Cr Benton began speaking again and the woman continued to make hand gestures with her hands above her head while shaking her head and continuing to talk. Cr Grant opened public question time and the woman said she couldn’t wait till the next meeting, as she would have plenty to say. “Save it until the next meeting and I ask you to respect this meeting,” Cr Grant said. The woman said “I am respecting this meeting and I’ve plenty to say – I’ll be writing it down and giving you all a question”. Council director of corporate services Sarah Brindley began reading the governance and code of conduct rules to the meeting. “Conduct at a meeting sets out that a member of the public must not interject,” Ms Brindley said. The woman proceeded to interject while Ms Brindley was reading out the code of conduct, which included the mayor’s right to remove a member of the public gallery for this type of behaviour. Cr Grant confirmed that she does have the right to ask someone to leave. “I do have the right and I also have the right to close this meeting and ask you to leave,” she said. The woman continued to speak in a raised voice. Seasoned gallery member Brian Fox even attempted to settled the woman down and he was repeatedly told to be quiet by the woman. Cr Grant used the gavel to formally close the meeting and asked everyone to leave. As a consequence of the premature closure, no one in the public gallery had the chance to ask a question and council had to stage a special meeting on Monday to discuss confidential business. With the absence of security staff in the gallery there are no means to remove a member of the public from a council meeting other than asking them to leave, and the person complying. Council employed security staff at meetings in 2023 as a precautionary measure when there was a threat of public disruption following social media comments and other disrupted meetings across Victoria. Wangaratta Chronicle requested a comment from council as to the next steps in dealing with disruptive behaviour at public meetings. “We are currently undertaking a review of our conduct policy, and an updated guide on appropriate behaviour will be provided ahead of the August month’s scheduled council meeting,” a council spokesperson said.

Public outburst closes council meeting early

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