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Online Form - Public Question Time - Council Meetings

Public Question Time enables a member of the public to put to the Presiding Member of a Council or Committee meeting a question concerning the business of the Town of Port Hedland.

Members of the public are permitted to ask questions of Elected Members for the following:

  • Ordinary Council Meetings
  • Special Council Meetings
  • Audit, Risk and Governance Commitee Meetings

Anyone wishing to ask a question during these meetings are requested to complete the following form, which will be submitted to our Governance team for their records. 

The following general rules apply to question time:

  • In accordance with the Standing Orders Local Law members of the public are allowed to ask three questions which must be submitted in writing prior to the conclusion of public time.
  • Questions are to be directed through the Presiding Member who has the right to accept, reject, respond, or nominate a relevant officer to respond to that question.
  • Questions should only relate to the business of the Council and should not be a statement or personal opinion.
  • Only questions relating to Council business will be considered at an ordinary meeting, and at a special meeting only questions that relate to the purpose of the meeting as listed on the agenda will be considered.
  • Questions which are considered inappropriate, offensive or otherwise not in good faith, duplicate or variations of earlier questions, relating to the personal affairs or actions of Council members or employees, legal advice, legal proceedings or other legal processes will be refused by the Presiding Member and will not be recorded in the minutes.
  • A summary of both the question and the response given during Public Question Time to be recorded in the Minutes. 
  • Questions may be taken on notice and responded to after the meeting.
  • Questions are not to be framed in such a way as to reflect adversely on a particular Elected Member or officer

At the commencement of Question Time the Presiding Member will read the following statement regarding Audio Recordings of meetings:

“This meeting is being recorded on audio tape as an additional record of the meeting and to assist with minute-taking purposes which may be released upon request to third parties. If you do not give permission for recording your participation please indicate this at the meeting. The public is also reminded that in accordance with Section 6.16 of the Town of Port Hedland Local Law on Standing Orders nobody shall use any visual or vocal electronic device or instrument to record the proceedings of any meeting unless that person has been given permission by the chairperson to do so.” 

For more information about audio recording of Council and Committee meetings please refer to Council’s policy 1/015 ‘Audio Recording of Council and Committee Meetings’. 

If you have any questions about how to fill out this form, please contact the Governance team on (08) 9158 9300 or email governance@porthedland.wa.gov.au. 

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