Former Palmerston Council alderman Athina Pascoe-Bell.
Camera IconFormer Palmerston Council alderman Athina Pascoe-Bell. Credit: News Corp Australia

New Palmerston council members will need to get permission before posting on social media

LAUREN ROBERTSNT News

PALMERSTON council’s new elected members will have to check with its media team before posting on Facebook, according to an updated media policy.

If aldermen post on social media anything relating to council decisions, issues or policy they need to check information with council’s communications team first.

Former Palmerston Council alderman Athina Pascoe-Bell said the stringent restrictions were unnecessary.

Ms Pascoe-Bell said social media was an important communication tool, which she used to connect with the community. “The ability to raise very serious issues with the community can’t be suppressed by council policy — we are an elected representative,” she said. “Elected members are elected there to represent the people.” Ms Pascoe-Bell used social media to discuss big policy decisions with ratepayers, especially if it involved the use of public funds.

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“I used it to discuss very controversial issues,” she said.

While she often spoke to former Palmerston Council chief executive Ricki Bruhn before discussing some issues with the media, Ms Pascoe-Bell said there was no need to run social media posts past a communications team.

Ms Pascoe-Bell said if the media wanted to discuss specific operational matters with aldermen — such as dog registration — it could be beneficial to discuss matters with City of Palmerston staff first.

She said if the topic related to council policy or issues, there was no need to speak to City of Palmerston staff first.

Paul Bunker and Andrew Byrne, who were both Palmerston Council aldermen before being suspended in June, managed a Facebook page called ‘Palmerston Community Connect’ which facilitated some conversation about council policy. The updated media policy, likely to be adopted at Palmerston Council’s meeting tonight, also bans City of Palmerston staff from talking to the media about council issues without approval from chief executive Cathryn Hutton.

Following the March elections, when Palmerston voters re-elect their new representatives, aldermen will not be allowed to chat to the media on council issues until they have been briefed by its media team.

Moving forward, aldermen will have to specifically state if their view is personal or professional when speaking to the media. Palmerston Council official manager Mark Blackburn has defended council’s media policy — saying it was in line with similar policies in Darwin and other local government councils.

“It’s council practice that all media inquires go through the media and public relations officer,” he said. “It’s not a censorship.” The policy was designed to equip elected members with more information, he said.