Review of the Code of Meeting Practice 2025

Tell us what you think about the reviewed Code of Meeting Practice

Well-run meetings are a sign of good governance. They show that the Council and its staff are working well together and making decisions in a fair and transparent way. Meeting rules help ensure decisions are made properly and that the community can see how and why decisions are made.

The Code of Meeting Practice sets the conditions for how Council meetings and certain Council committee meetings are run. It applies to all Council meetings and to committees made up entirely of Councillors. Other committees (with non-Councillor members) can set their own meeting conditions, unless Council decides otherwise.

Council must follow this Code when running meetings and it must include all the required provisions from the NSW Government Office of Local Government's Model Code of Meeting Practice. Extra provisions can be added, but they must not go against the required ones. By law (under section 360 of the Local Government Act 1993), Council must adopt this Code within 12 months after each local government election.

Background:

In February 2025, the NSW Office of Local Government shared a consultation draft for the Model Code of Meeting Practice and suggested many changes. However, the new version hasn’t been officially approved yet, and there’s no timeline for when it will be.

Because of this, Council plans to put the current Code of Meeting Practice on public exhibition. This means the community can review it and give feedback. This step is required by law so that Council can officially readopt the current code.

The draft Review of the Code of Meeting Practice is on exhibition from Tuesday 1 July 2025 to Tuesday 12 August 2025 and can be viewed:

• At Council’s Customer Service Centre, Ground Floor Administration Building, 41 Burelli Street Wollongong, between 9am and 5pm weekdays
• Online via the Document Library