A sound issue was the only hitch during the Invercargill City Council’s first official live streamed meeting, at 3pm today (February 23).

Apart from a handful of meetings livestreamed last year during the Covid-19 pandemic level 4 lockdown, the council has not livestreamed its meetings to the public, but from today that policy has changed.

Mayor Sir Tim Shadbolt welcomed the people who had logged on to watch on livestream and Cr Lindsay Abbot, who was attending via Zoom.

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Newly elected councillor Marcus Lush, of Bluff, was welcomed to the council table and took the oath to serve the council before posing for photos with Sir Tim.

There were no submissions from the public forum. 

The councillors unanimously received the minutes of various committees held during February, without discussion. 

The executive manager of the chief executive’s office, Pete Thompson, then presented a report on behalf of Jeff Grant, the chairman of the council project governance group.

However, Mr Thompson’s microphone had not been switched on, preventing those watching from their computers at home from hearing what he had to say.

Mr Thompson was challenged by some councillors about the wording that addressed the decision-making authority of the chief executive, and once his microphone was switched on, he clearly suggested that he was willing to revisit the wording. 

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Cr Abbott and deputy mayor Nobby Clark then addressed new media protocols that had been drawn up by the governance group for approval by the council.

Cr Abbott said of various media-reported stoushes between councillors last year that “we did not play the ball, we played the man”.

However, the new protocols made him “feel a little bit sanitised”.

While “not in favour of pre-school” or character assassination, he wanted to make the point that he would like to talk to matters when he felt he should.

Cr Clark questioned whether the media protocols applied to staff as well as elected representatives and was informed by Mr Thompson that they related specifically to elected members. 

Staff were covered by a separate piece of work, he said.

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Cr Clark suggested amendments because he felt the protocols were “close to a gagging order” and he was concerned about being charged with possible breaches of code of conduct if he spoke out about an issue to the media.

“You play the issue, not the person behind the issues,” Cr Clark said, adding later that behaviour, not opinion, was the issue. 

The protocols should not stop councillors from positioning themselves as an individual versus the majority, he said.

Cr Rebecca Amundsen said councillors should focus on their own reasons for why they were voting on issues.

It was important to justify your own actions “without criticising, belittling or rubbishing” other people’s opinions, she said.

Sir Tim said he had to “make a stand for free speech”.

The creation of media protocols was a “salutary lesson for me in how quickly our freedoms can be lowered,” he said.

 He referred to human rights and “lessons all over the world with military regimes”, noting councillors were “fortunate to be in the position we are”.

The majority of the councillors agreed to accept the governance group report. 

Clark asked to be recorded that he was “opposed to appendix D” of the report, which relates to the new media protocols.

When the Southland App sought clarification after the meeting, Cr Abbott said, through council communications advisor Daniel Tobin, he “likewise please” wanted to be recorded as opposed to appendix D.

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The livestreamed part of the meeting took 50 minutes. The council then took a break for afternoon tea and media photos with Cr Lush, before continuing with the public excluded part of the agenda.

Those items related to performance, policy and partnerships committee items, uncalled capital with the Invercargill City Holdings, and an on-going court case over costs in relation to Sir Tim’s successful defence of a defamation claim by former councillor Karen Arnold in 2018.

The stated reasons for excluding the public related to the prejudice of ongoing commercial and industrial negotiations and that there were good reasons for withholding the information under the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act 1987.

The full governance group report, including appendix D, is available in today’s agenda online here.