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6 March – 19 March 2013
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It’s Brill!
CHELSEA Heights Playgroup faces the threat of closure after 40 years, despite pointing the likes of Lewis Brill (pictured) in the right direction before going to school. See page 5. Picture: Yanni
‘Censorship’ stoush By Neil Walker NORTH Ward councillor Paul Peulich has accused Kingston Council of censorship over its refusal to publish his regular ward column in the March edition of the council’s Kingston Your City monthly newsletter. Cr Peulich claims council “unduly censored” his column and impinged his freedom of speech. The March edition of Kingston Your City, distributed to 62,700 Kingston homes and 8000 businesses, was published with a blank space in place of Cr
Peulich’s regular column. All councillors write a column for the newsletter. Cr Peulich supplied a copy of his proposed column to The News. The column railed against “recent political attacks against me in the media…intended to distract from significant policy issues faced by Kingston Council”. Cr Peulich told The News he had been advised by council CEO John Nevins, in his role as Kingston Your City editor-in-chief, that his rejected column “was not consistent with council communications policy”. “Keeping the community informed
goes to the heart of my role as a councillor,” Cr Peulich said. “Council is trying to stymie debate.” Kingston mayor Ron Brownlees, responding on council’s behalf, said: “Paul’s ward column was assessed as not complying with council’s approved guidelines for media relations and Kingston Your City and it was submitted well outside the deadline. It is a common practice for ward columns to be edited to ensure compliance. Paul was given an opportunity to edit his column and it still did not comply.” Cr Peulich disputed the column was
submitted after publication deadline. Section 2.2 of the council’s media guidelines state: ‘KYC is not intended to be a vehicle for councillors or officers to criticise fellow councillors, community members, members of the government or opposition, or council officers… At all times a conservative approach will be adopted to ensure the above intentions are protected.’ Cr Peulich has also found his fellow councillors resistant to debating issues he raised at the latest council meeting. The minutes of the latest meeting, on 25 February, show Cr Peulich failed
to find another councillor to second all five of his ‘notices of motions’ for debate. Cr Peulich advised The News: “The usual custom is…a councillor supports a notice of motion so it can be debated. They (the councillor seconding the notice of motion) do not have to agree with the proposal put forward.” The notices of motion included a proposal that Kingston’s audit committee be renamed the ethics and audit committee and it should possibly have expanded powers. Continued Page 3