MORNINGTON Peninsula Shire will cut the number of its public council meetings to just 11 this year, with some councillors warning the move risks reduced transparency and community scrutiny.
The decision, made at the 2 December council meeting, follows a July vote last year to space meetings out from every two weeks to every three weeks.
Previously, the council had held 24 public meetings per year.
Under the new schedule, all evening meetings will begin at 6.30pm, with four community-focused council meetings.
The new timetable introduces a four-week cycle that integrates council meeting briefings (CMBs) into existing council workshops and briefings, balancing online and in-person engagement.
A shire report said the changes were intended to improve councillor preparation, reduce meeting fatigue, and support work–life balance.
The report noted that “integrating CMBs into the briefing structure provides councillors with dedicated time to review and discuss the draft council meeting agenda, seek clarification from officers, and ensure complex or multi-topic items are well understood ahead of the formal meeting.”
Additionally, the cycle “strengthens decision-making quality, enhances transparency, and supports more considered governance outcomes.”
However, some councillors expressed concerns.
“My recollection of this year [2025] is a year of chaotic changes, with reduced number of meetings on 17 June, resulting in four unscheduled meetings,” Cr Kate Roper said.
“We’ve had one meeting cancelled and items moved in and out of agendas consistently, along with agenda items only arriving a day before the meeting. This is not ideal for good decision making when we don’t have time to get into the detail.
“With only one meeting a month, the timeliness of items coming to council will be challenging. I think that the community may well question the transparency of things that are only coming once a month to council. There’s also a perception councillors are doing less for their community with only one meeting a month.”
Councillor David Gill echoed these concerns, saying “What the motion does is heavily reduce public transparent council meetings… the idea that we will have more briefings, briefing workshops, instead of public council meetings is beyond my understanding because they are not held in public”.
“The perception will be less scrutiny, less transparency, less accountability.”
Other councillors were more supportive, emphasising the efficiency benefits of fewer meetings and more detailed workshops.
Cr Bruce Rankin said while transparency was paramount, “I’m not one for having meetings for the sake of meetings”.
“To the point of the briefings, there’s some good healthy discussions that go on there … and some of the detail in the briefings can’t be provided to the public for transparency and confidentiality reasons. However, I think the latest steps about providing detail to the public around the conversations within those briefings has been very good,” he said.
Cr Stephen Batty supported the approach as it “strengthens the decision-making quality, enhances transparency, and supports more considered governance outcomes”.
Cr Andrea Allen said there were also benefits to the briefing system and “we can tweak it during the year like we did last year if it doesn’t go right”.
The new schedule, which was passed by councillors in a 6-4 vote, will take effect from the first public meeting on 17 February.
First published in the Mornington News – 13 January 2026