A Brimbank council candidate has vowed to use thousands of dollars of his council salary to pay for live streaming of council meetings in a bid to engage “keyboard activists”.
Kwabena Ansah, a Liberal Party member running as an independent, said that if elected he would investigate the best options for live streaming to improve interaction with residents.
“If our council can’t afford to live stream council meetings, then I am willing to fully fund an affordable and reputable product,” he said.
“In this day and age, where people are interacting more and more on social media, there are plenty of keyboard activists who don’t have time to attend meetings. I am willing to use my councillor salary to provide this service to the community.”
Mr Ansah said cost estimates for a new system would need to be discussed with future councillors.
Kingston and Bayside councils paid $10,000 and $20,000 respectively to set up streaming services. They spend $1300 and $1100 respectively each month to run their services.
Kingston council meetings were viewed more than 3200 times last year. Streaming began in July, 2013.
Kingston corporate services general manager Paul Franklin said the council also provided a publicly accessible archive on its website of videos from previous council meetings.
Bayside council began streaming in September, 2014, to “view meetings from home or at times that are convenient to them”.
“About 50-60 viewers watch meetings live and, on average, a further 100 people accessed archived videos of meetings each month,” council corporate services director Mick Cummins said.
Councillors earn between $8121 and almost $29,000 a year, depending on the municipal area they represent.
