Public involvement at Council meetings

1. Overview

All Ordinary and Planning and Strategy Committee Meetings are open to public involvement, however some matters may be held in closed session depending on the content. Section 10A of the Local Government Act sets out those matters which a Council can deal with in Closed Session. 

Council’s Code of Meeting Practice(PDF, 1MB) makes provision for public involvement but makes it clear that this involvement is now required by law to be dealt with separate to the Council Meeting itself.  To accommodate this, Council has developed a Public Forum. The Chairperson will adjourn the official Council meeting to allow the Public Forum to take place.

The Public Forum will consist of:

1. Presentations from members of the public who wish to speak to items being considered on the agenda of the Council meeting
2. The Tabling of petitions, in line with Council’s Petitions Policy(PDF, 177KB)
3. Written Questions on Notice from the community on any issue relating to the Council’s legislative responsibilities 
4. Presentations which have been invited by the CEO/GM

2. Presentations to Council

You have three options to make a presentation to Council.

• Written presentation must be submitted by midday on the Tuesday before the meeting. This is to allow presentations to be collated and distributed to councillors
• Zoom presentation - register by midday on Wednesday of the meeting
• In-person presentation - register online by midday Wednesday of the meeting or between 5.00-5.30pm at the meeting 

Presenters have a maximum of three minutes to speak. You must state which item you are presenting on and whether you are speaking ‘for’ or ‘against’ the item. Presenters are not able to ask questions during their presentation. You can apply to speak on more than one item on the Council agenda but must keep within the allocated time limit (three minutes). Presenters must refrain from digressing from the item they are speaking to and must refrain from engaging in disorderly conduct and obey the rulings of the Chair. 

3. Questions on Notice

Questions on notice from the community can be about any Council-related business and do not need to be related to matters on the agenda. They must be submitted in writing, by using the online form below or via email to public.forum@qprc.nsw.gov.au by 12pm on the Wednesday one week prior to the meeting. This allows staff time to prepare responses.  All questions and responses will be tabled at each Public Forum, provided to the person who asked the questions and published on our website. From May 2021 all public forum questions and answers will be included in the minute documents which can be downloaded here.

4. Attending or watching a meeting

You can watch a meeting via:

• Attendance at the Council Chambers (The Chambers has a limited number of public gallery seats. Members of the public who wish to view the meeting are encouraged to view the live online webcast) 
• Via webcast.qprc.nsw.gov.au 

5. Petitions

Council welcomes the lodging of petitions from members of its community and recognises them as being part of the community engagement process which allows community members to express their views to the body politic. A petition must pertain to the legislative responsibilities of Queanbeyan-Palerang Regional Council. Petitions relating to issues/matters outside of Council’s direct area of responsibility will not be accepted.

For more information please refer to the QPRC Petition Policy here.(PDF, 177KB)

The following petitions have been submitted to Council since the adoption of the Petition Policy on 24 April 2019.