POLITICAL debate is set to intensify in Kingston in this state election year and Kingston councillors have kicked the year off by indulging in some political posturing of their own.
Councillors voted in November last year to lift restrictions on the number of times politicians could appear in the City of Kingston’s Kingston Your City newsletter, and putting pollies back in the picture was back on the agenda at Monday evening’s first ordinary council meeting of the year.
The official lifting of a limit of “one photo and/or mention each per edition” of a state or federal politician in KYC sparked an at times vigorous debate among councillors.
Kingston seats loom as key battlegrounds that could determine the outcome of the election, with Carrum MP Donna Bauer and Mordialloc MP Lorraine Wreford holding slim Liberal Party margins of 2.07 and 2.04 per cent respectively.
South Ward Cr Tamsin Bearsley said the limit on photos and mentions was “flawed from the start”.
“It had some unintended consequences that prevented us [council] recognising a number of joint projects with the state government.”
She said she was glad the limit she dubbed “the Communist clause” was being removed.
“Censorship like this has no place in an open and diverse city like Kingston,” Cr Bearsley said.
Cr Ron Brownlees said he was confident council officers and media communications staff were professional enough to be trusted to be fair and equitable in deciding how many times politicans appeared in the council publication.
A compromise proposal by Cr Rosemary West to not mention politicians in KYC two editions preceding the state election to stop it being used for “electioneering” in the lead-up to an election, failed to find enough support from her fellow councillors.
“[KYC] is for residents and is not meant to be ‘advertising’ members of parliament,” Cr West said.
She said a “black out period” or “equal space rule” would have been an ideal solution to the political stoush.
Cr David Eden said the policy adopted in May last year to limit the number of politicians’ appearances did not prevent the acknowledgement of funding from state government departments.
Cr Geoff Gledhill said community feedback he had received about Kingston Council publications was positive and “unfortunately this has been turned into nothing more than a political debate”.
“I don’t care who is in government at a federal or state level,” he said. “If they do something to support the City of Kingston then that should be acknowledged.”
He said KYC should contain “fair and factual news”.
Cr Steve Staikos said Kingston councillors are “a political group of people” and all had a politicial connection “to either side, whether they are transparent or not.”
He hoped council would not be drawn take side in November’s political contest after being drawn into the fray during 2010’s state election.
He said he would vote to “abolish” KYC if that was an option.
Crs Bearsley, Brownlees, Gledhill and mayor Paul Peulich supported ending the limit on politicians’ appearances in the pages of KYC.
Crs Tamara Barth, Eden, Staikos and West opposed the move.
Cr John Ronke was absent from the meeting.
Cr Peulich used his mayoral “casting vote” since councillors’ voting was deadlocked at four each since the policy he originally supported last year “overreached” and was a “restriction on freedom of speech”.
KYC is now published every second month instead of on a monthly basis after councillors agreed to cut its production costs late last year.
