Council meetings

Public Access

Public Access provides a forum for community members to speak directly to the Mayor and Councillors about local or Council issues. It's held at 5:30pm on the second and fourth Tuesday of each month prior to the Council meeting.

Public Access sessions are restricted to a total of 12 speakers per month with 5 minutes per speaker. There is a limit of 2 speakers for and 2 speakers against any issue. The Mayor has delegated authority to approve or refuse applications.

A public access request must be submitted by 12 midday on Monday prior to the Tuesday Council meeting.

• Download a Public Access Application Form (PDF 221.7 KB)

Defamatory Comments

All persons are reminded that any form of legal privilege does not apply to Public Access.

Defamatory comments and/or allegations against Councillors, staff or other community members may lead to suspension of Public Access and/or legal action.

Applications should seek independent legal advice if they still intend on making such comments.

You should take care to ensure you have approval to discuss other people's personal information.

Webcasting

The Public Access forum is broadcast live to the public and recorded.

By speaking, you are giving consent to your image and voice being broadcast to the world. Recordings are copyright protected and may be accessible under the Government Information (Public Access) Act.

Council accepts no liability for any defamatory remarks or inappropriate comments that might be made.

Those who do not consent to be recorded will not be broadcast on the webcast.

Connecting to the webcast

The quality of the webcast will depend on your computer and internet connection. Please be patient when loading a video as it can take time to start playing.

Notice of copyright and disclaimer

This electronic transmission is protected by copyright owned by Port Stephens Council and no part thereof may be copied or recorded or made available to others without the prior written consent of Port Stephens Council. Opinions expressed or statements made by individual persons during the course of this transmission are the opinions or statements of those individual persons and are not opinions or statements of Port Stephens Council. This transmission is not, and shall not, be taken to be an official record of Port Stephens Council or of any meeting or discussion depicted therein.

When does Council meet?

The Ordinary Meeting is held on the second and fourth Tuesday of each month from 5.30pm. Meetings are held in the Council Chambers at the Administration Building, 116 Adelaide Street, Raymond Terrace. Our community is welcome to attend the open session of Council.

The role of the Ordinary Meeting is to consider and make determinations on reports before Council along with the General Manager's Reports, Mayoral Minutes, Notices of Motion, Rescission Motions and Confidential items.

The General Manager and group managers attend the meeting to advise Councillors where necessary.

The draft minutes are a record of the resolutions made by Council, these are uploaded to the Agenda and Minutes section of this website on Thursday following the Tuesday night meeting.

Meeting dates

Council report, agendas, attachments and minutes

• View the 2024 Council reports, agendas, attachments, tabled documents and minutes
• View previous minutes 2006 to 2023

To view the Business Paper documents you will require Adobe Reader which may be downloaded free from the Adobe website.

Attachments referred to in the minutes of Council Meetings are not included within the minute document — this is to keep the document size accessible to all. Attachments are included in the Business Paper Agendas for reference. These are provided for the last 12 months only.

To view paper copies of all minutes or minutes prior to 2006, contact Executive Assistant Councillor Support on 02 4988 0245.

Webcast of Council meetings

Public open sessions of Council meetings are now webcast live to provide the opportunity for the community to view proceedings without the need to attend the meeting. Webcasts commence at 5:30pm or immediately after public access. View the webcast.