Request to speak at a Council Meeting

Ways to speak at a Council meeting

Members of the public can attend a Council meeting in person at St Kilda Town Hall, or virtually via Microsoft Teams.

Please note individuals must speak only on their own behalf when asking public questions or making submissions to ensure transparency, accountability, and the integrity of the decision-making process.

Asking a question during Public Question Time

Members of the public can ask questions on general matters other than those relating to a topic that is on the agenda.

• Questions submitted to Council must be:
  • submitted in writing in via the below request to speak form prior to 12pm midday on the day of the Council meeting. 
  • Questions may be asked of Council and may not be directed to individual Councillors.
• A brief summary of each question and the response provided will be recorded in the minutes. Responses to questions taken on notice will be made publicly available on the Council website.
• Public questions must not exceed two minutes in duration.

Submissions to agenda items

• Members of the public are asked to focus on agenda items under consideration.
• Questions made on agenda items will not automatically be referred to a Council officer for response, but they may be taken up by a Councillor when the item is considered. 
• Speaker names will be recorded in the minutes, questions and comments will be streamed live and recorded to be made available online.
• Submissions to agenda items must not exceed two minutes in duration.

Speaking to a Deputation

If a deputation has been included in the agenda, the applicant, or their representative, will be invited to register to speak at the relevant Council meeting.

• Council will not hear more than one deputation per meeting.
• Councillors and members of Council staff may question the deputation on matters raised by it for purposes of clarification, but no discussion will be allowed.
• No motion must be allowed on any deputation until the next Council meeting after the deputation has been heard.
• Deputation must not exceed five minutes in duration.

More information, including how to lodge a deputation, can be found on Council's Petitions, Joint Letters and Deputations page.

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.

Meeting protocols

If speaking at a Council meeting, you must state your name and suburb for the record. Please note your name will be published in the Minutes of the meeting published to Council's website and your audio will be streamed live and recorded to be made available via Council's Facebook live and webcast site.

A question or submission 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.

Any member of the public addressing Council must extend due courtesy and respect to Council and the processes under which it operates and must take direction from the Chair whenever called on to do so. The Chair may order and cause the removal of any person, who disrupts any meeting or fails to comply with their direction.

Members of the public must not disclose another individuals personal or confidential information including information or an opinion about an identified individual, or an individual who is reasonably identifiable, such as a person’s name, address, or any piece of information that is not publicly available and is considered private.

Contact us

Our Governance team is here to help. Contact us if you have a problem when using our request to speak form.

Send us a message on My Port Phillip

Phone: 03 8563 7874