Our Councillors would like to inform the community of their plans to make a change to the City of Boroondara’s Governance Rules, specifically Rule 18A.
Council’s Governance Rules give the Mayor, as Chair of a Council meeting, the option to start a Council meeting with the Council prayer and an Acknowledgement of Country.
Council has read the Council prayer at its Council meetings since the first election of councillors in 1996. This practice is reflected in our Governance Rules adopted in 2022, and is consistent with practices applied by other councils, the state and Commonwealth governments.
Council has recently given consideration to the extent to which the rule complies with the Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities, as it relates to religious freedom. There is sufficient doubt about compliance with the charter for Council to have passed a resolution to amend Rule 18A of the Governance Rules by removing reference to the Council prayer.
Under the Local Government Act, Council is required to advertise its intention to make changes to the Governance Rules irrespective of the discretion available to Council in considering the feedback received.
Community members who would like to share their feedback with us on this matter can submit their comments before 5 pm on Tuesday 20 June at the Update to our Governance Rules: Rule 18A page on our Engage Boroondara website.