June 25, 2020 - COUNCIL MEETINGS WILL CONTINUE TO BE LIVE STREAMED FOLLOWING RECORD BREAKING AUDIENCE

Back

Cassowary Coast Regional Council will continue to live stream Local Government meetings until at least December 2020.

As travel restrictions are reviewed and relaxed across the Country, local governments are making decisions about the health and safety of their communities and weighing up the benefits to continued live stream services.

At today’s Council meeting Cassowary Coast Regional Council Mayor Mark Nolan advised of his intentions to keep all meetings closed to the public until, at least December 2020.

Councillor Nolan said easing of restrictions places greater pressure on Council’s ability to protect the public should there be a second wave or resurgence of COVID-19 in the community.

‘There will be opportunity to review this decision but ultimately Council has to consider what is really important here - when we are talking about continued social distancing, what is actually necessary,’ he said.

‘We are currently reaching far more of our community hosting the meetings online, at a fraction of the cost and with very little risk were the virus is concerned,’

The post-election meeting held 23 April 2020 was viewed 984 times, the meeting held 15 May 2020 was viewed 608 times, 28 May 2020 viewed 329 times and the most recent 11 June 2020 was viewed 121 times.

Councillor Nolan noted that despite the number of views per meeting declining, over 100 views is considered record breaking attendance as far as local government meetings on the Cassowary Coast are concerned.

‘Never before in the history of this Council have we had these types of numbers ‘attending’ Council meetings,’ he said.

‘Since our decision to close meetings to the public and move to live streaming, we have seen data which demonstrates the public viewing of meetings is vastly greater than previous viewing in person,’

‘Live streaming also allows the public to replay meetings and watch in their own time, which is a great outcome for those working and unable to watch at the time of the meeting,’

‘I am very proud, as Mayor, that the live streaming solution has led to significantly greater transparency in the interests of democracy,’

Meetings will continue to be conducted from the Innisfail Shire Hall with existing sanitation procedures and physical distancing in place.

The next Council meeting will be held from 9am on 9 July 2020. All residents are welcome to access the live stream by going to Council’s website, cassowarycoast.qld.gov.au.

 

Media contact 0417 721 754  |  comms@ccrc.qld.gov.au