The draft Code of Meeting Practice was exhibited between 29 March and 1 May and received three submissions.

A report noting the outcomes of engagement and recommending adoption of the policy was presented to the Council and adopted at the meeting on Tuesday 24 May 2022.

View the Council Minutes, Council Report including the Community and Stakeholder Engagement Report from the 'Links' section at the bottom of this page.

The adopted policy replaces the previously standing policy.

In the November 2021, the Office of Local Government (OLG) released a new Model Code of Meeting Practice (OLG Model Code) that provides a uniform set of meeting rules for councils across NSW to help ensure more accessible, orderly, effective and efficient meetings.

Based on this, a Code of Meeting Practice incorporating the mandatory provisions of the OLG Model Code and any other non-mandatory provisions must be adopted by Council within 12 months following an ordinary election.

We developed the recently adopted Code of Meeting Practice 2022 that incorporates all of the mandatory provisions and some new non-mandatory provisions including provisions specific to the needs of Northern Beaches Council. The key changes include:

• an ethical obligations statement in all business papers, updates to webcasting requirements and minor amendments throughout
• voluntary remote access provisions as provided in the OLG Model Code
• additional custom provisions to confirm the processes relating to councillors’ participation in meetings by audio visual link that are consistent with the Council’s adopted Guidelines for remote attendance
• bringing forward the deadline for applications for public forum and public address from 12 noon on the day of the meeting to 5pm on the business day prior to the meeting.

We were specifically keen to hear community feedback on the inclusion of gendered language in Section 8 Modes of Address.