Is there too much debate at Wollongong City Council meetings?
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
It's a question that was raised in the wake of Monday night's meeting, where a motion was tabled to place the council's draft affordable housing policy on exhibition.
Before any discussion began, Lord Mayor Gordon Bradbery asked if any councillors were against the motion - none of them were.
To which Cr Bradbery said he was tempted to put it to a vote and move on.
"Look, councillors, why waste your time?" Cr Bradbery asked. "If everyone's in agreement with it, what's the point?"
Still, Cr Bradbery allowed debate, which went on for 35 minutes where nine of the 12 councillors spoke on a matter no-one was against.
Speaking after the meeting Cr Bradbery said it wasn't a matter of trying to "stifle" debate but following meeting procedure
What was also in his mind was that various members of council staff had to attend the meeting from 6pm after being at work all day.
"Sometimes I've got to manage it in such a way as I've got a team of staff there who, in recent times, have been working their backsides off in terms of trying to deal with the issues of the flooding and the rain events - and also getting ready for possibly another one this coming weekend," Cr Bradbery said.
"And I just thought, well, I'll test the waters and see, if we can get them home to their families."
He also said the coming council elections may be a factor in some debates - though he wasn't looking to curtail them for that reason.
"There's an election coming up and councillors want to be seen to be expressing their particular stance or position on things," he said.
"But I've always, throughout my period of 13 years as mayor, allowed councillors if they want to speak to, to have that opportunity, even though most of the time our motions go through unanimously.
"So I've always allowed the opportunity for every councillor to have a chance to speak if they wanted to and also an extension of time."
Cr David Brown noted that with the affordable housing discussion, while no-one was opposed to placing it on public exhibition, "different perspectives" came up during the debate.
He also said discussions during council meetings had a benefit for the community.
"Whilst we we don't debate every last issue these days I think it's important sometimes to explain why you're making a decision," Cr Brown said.
"It might well be that there's unanimous or even a strong majority for something. But still, the reality is we've got to explain our decisions to the community. And I think that's part of the debate.
"I think it's needed to explain why you're supporting it and what reservations you might have."
That was an opinion shared by Cr Mithra Cox in relation to the debate on the affordable housing policy.
"While everybody supported the motion, people definitely had criticisms of it and nuances of it," Cr Cox said.
"And I was certainly in that category; I'm absolutely going to support it because it's better than nothing, but it's kind of chicken feed as well. And I think there is more that we could do and we could do better.
"And so, that's what the debate is for, I think is to say 'yes, you know, this is a reasonable start, but having $1 million for affordable housing - what that will buy us? How many houses, like one house or two apartments?
"It's really not going to make a huge difference but that's not a reason not to support it."
Cr Brown didn't feel there was more debate in the council chambers this year, and said it was far less than when the council came back from administration where people "were trying to get their head around the system".
Some nights back then, meetings could go on until midnight, compared to the 7.30pm finish on Monday night.
Also, after the return from administration, Cr Brown said there was a deliberate choice among experienced councillors to adopt a more "collegiate" approach rather than sticking rigidly to party lines - an approach which seems to have continued to this day.
"It's just one of the things where occasionally we'll have a big policy debate, but it'll never be acrimonious," he said.
"And if somebody's got a good idea that it's not too far away from your political view of the world, you might agree with it or meet them halfway."
Cr Cox said the council did pass some motions no-one needed to debate in a block at the start of the meeting.
But she added that it was important to debate some motions; for instance, if someone in the public gallery had come to the meeting for a specific motion, that was always debated.
"Overall, even if all the councillors are agreeing with something, it is a better look to actually have debate about it anyway, rather than just pass everything," Cr Cox said.
"I think it's a good culture that we do generally pass things unanimously and it's not because people are not engaged.
"But of course, there's a difference of political opinion on the council and absolutely, they should have a space to be expressed."