Feedback on being at the last Council meeting

The recent meeting of the full Council dealing with such click bait topics as the CAT Bus Service and the future of the Fremantle Markets attracted more than the usual crowd.

You could be there in person, if you were lucky enough to get a seat inside the Council Chamber. Or you could attend online.

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Your editor watched and listened from the comfort of his lounge recliner – more on that later – but others turned up in person. One of these, longtime Freo resident Graeme Rattigan, sent this report to the Shipping News of his less-than-satisfactory experience on the night –

‘I attended the Fremantle Council meeting on Wednesday 24 May anxious to hear the debates on the lease of the Markets and the future of the CAT bus. There was a large crowd that spilled out into the foyer and I was part of that crowd. An officer of the council informed me that if I sat outside I could watch and hear the submissions on the screens provided for that purpose. The screens continued to show Fremantle promotions. The sound quality provided for the speakers was such as to render the submissions unintelligible, other than to those in the council chamber. There is a large foyer area adjacent to the council chamber and I suggest that additional screens be erected inside the foyer and temporary seating be arranged when controversial matters are to be raised at future meetings, thus offering a more inclusive experience’.

I am able to report that, from my recliner, hearing was a much more inclusive experience than that our correspondent has just reported on – and my glass of white wine was perfectly chilled. It was a slightly strange experience, however. A little disembodied. The view on the computer screen was a broken one that showed the Chamber, where the Council members were seated, in two halves. When council members spoke they were not always sufficiently close to their microphone to be heard properly. And you never got to see the speaker – except for the Mayor who was, as perhaps she should be, always front and centre. In my case, and that of many of us I am sure, during Covid we became expert Zoom meeting attendees and used to seeing up close whoever was speaking at the meetings we attended, and having no real issue in hearing all that was said. It’d be good if the Council could emulate the Zoom experience. For my part, watching and listening remotely has great advantages, as I’m sure it does for others. (Indeed I can foresee the holding of Council Meeting Parties where residents gather in large numbers at a friend’s home to enjoy a riveting night out watching the big screen!)

Over to the AV folk at City of Fremantle.

* By Michael Barker, Editor, Fremantle Shipping News

WHILE YOU’RE HERE –