Psst: Executive Council staff at Byron Shire Council have quietly removed legal reports that were once included in Council meeting agendas, meaning the public are now uninformed around this important matter.
Periodic legal reports, by former legal counsel Ralph James, were once tabled in the meeting agendas, and informed the public and councillors of current court cases, and the costs associated.
The Echo asked Council’s legal counsel, Matt Meir, who is still relatively new to the job, if he was legally required to provide periodic reports to the public via the meeting agenda, given there are now none.
His answer was ‘no’.
When asked whether councillors need to pass a motion to include legal reports in agendas, he only stated: ‘Council staff update councillors regularly on legal proceedings, but not via Council reports’.
The Echo has asked a follow up: ‘who made the decision to withdraw the public legal reports and why?’
There is a strong case for including legal reports, notwithstanding it adheres to Council’s recently-adopted Community Engagement Strategy.
That states, ‘Genuine and meaningful communication and engagement results in better outcomes for the community’.
Here’s another reason: previous legal reports have provided insight into issues raised in Council’s legal cases, which can result in changes to planning instruments like the LEP, along with other policies.
Keeping the community legally informed is important because reports could encompass other legal matters, such as companion animal issues, planning and traffic.
Meir could inform us of new legislation and how it impacts on Council. Reviews of legislation, and case law which creates new precedents or clarifies existing legislation, would also be helpful.
And if that wasn’t enough, the recent Office of Local Government (OLG) discussion paper on the Model Code of Meeting Practice contained a quote from the minister: ‘Communities are entitled to know the deliberations of their councillors and the nature of the advice given to assist them in making responsible decisions’.
Speaking of those who like closed doors, there was some bizarre politicking by former mayor, Michael Lyon, at last week’s meeting.
As most astute readers know, he has been no fan of Echo coverage throughout his eight years in Council.
During public access, resident Angela Dunlop asked whether Council would again advertise significant DAs and public exhibition items with The Echo, ‘in the interests of transparency and community engagement?’
Cr Lyon jumped at the chance to reply while demonstrating no understanding of the role of local media, nor its business model.
He said, ‘I understand that this is considered to be somewhat important public information, which is available freely on the website, but if it is that important, we should put a challenge out to both publications to publish it for free and provide us say a quarter page ad to do that…’
We consider that reporting on important local matters (including DAs and court cases) is very much in the public interest. And we wish we could do more of it.
However, we are almost entirely reliant on advertising revenue, as we suspect Cr Lyon knows.
Of the two local newspapers, The Echo is the only locally-owned independent, and has been printing in the public interest for nearly 40 years.
Hans Lovejoy, editor
For four decades The Echo has printed the stories some people loved, some people hated, and some pretended not to read. If you want us to keep telling the truth, the real truth, not the sugar-coated version. We’ll need your support to keep the presses rolling. 
