Request to speak at a Council Meeting

Get involved in Council Meetings by asking a public question or making a public comment.

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Council meetings are held between the St Kilda and Port Melbourne Town Halls and operate in a hybrid method with the option to attend either in person or virtually via WebEx.

To participate at a Council meeting please complete the 'Request to Speak form' at the bottom of this webpage.

Online registrations to speak close at 4pm on the day of the meeting. Alternatively, if you are attending the meeting in person, manual registration forms will be provided upon entry to the Town Hall.

Attending in person

Please indicate on the 'request to speak' form if you are attending the meeting virtually rather than in-person.

Conditions of entry

There are COVID-safe requirements you will need to follow to keep everyone safe. Do not attend a Council meeting if you are feeling unwell or are waiting for the results of a COVID-19 test.

When entering the town hall and Council Chamber:

Utilise the hand sanitiser provided upon entry to the building.
Maintain social distance between yourself and others where possible.

Attending Virtually

Council Meetings will continue to be conducted through a Hybrid method. If not attending in person, members of the public can join the WebEx meeting virtually and ask their questions live during the meeting. The WebEx meeting can be joined via internet connection on any device, or dialled into via phone. For privacy reasons, only audio will be heard, the video will not be displayed at any time during the meeting.

Watching Council Meetings from home

Council meetings continue to be live-streamed to allow our community to watch the meeting online. Members of the public can access the live-stream via our live stream website or Facebook page.

Please note, each speaker can speak for three minutes, the chair reserves the right to limit the speaking time to two minutes for a particular item if there are five or more speakers, please bear this in mind when preparing your submission.

Meeting protocols

- Questions submitted to Council must be:
  - in writing, stating the name and address of the person submitting the question and generally be in a form approved or permitted by Council
  - submitted to Council prior to 4 pm on the day of the Council meeting.
- Members of the public can ask questions on general matters other than those relating to a topic that is on the agenda. Questions may be asked of Council and may not be directed to individual Councillors.
- Each question will be recorded in the minutes. Responses to questions provided at the meeting will be recorded in the minutes. Responses to questions taken on notice will be made publicly available on the Council website.
- Questions and the responses at Ordinary Meetings will be streamed live and recorded to be made available online.
- A question may be disallowed by the Chair if the Chair determines that it:
  - relates to a matter outside the duties, functions and powers of Council
  - is defamatory, indecent, abusive, offensive, irrelevant, trivial or objectionable in language or substance
  - deals with a subject matter already answered
  - is aimed at embarrassing a Councillor or a member of Council staff
  - relates to a matter which will be, or is likely to be, considered in a closed meeting
  - relates to any matter which Council considers would prejudice Council or any person.
- Members of the public are asked to focus on agenda items under consideration.
- Speaker names will be recorded in the minutes.
- Questions, comments and the responses at Ordinary Meetings will be streamed live and recorded to be made available online.

Request to speak form

Please complete the online form using the My Port Phillip portal. Registered users of My Port Phillip will find their personal details already populated in the form, making submission faster and easier.

Please note you do not need to specify a location using the map. Please skip that question.

Submit your request

Having trouble?

Should you have any difficulty when submitting our request to speak form, please contact us:

Online: My Port Phillip
Phone: 03 8563 7490