Where to for Democracy in the Zoom era?

Pat Seymour

Opinion

A wet day has caused me to reflect, and I think it is a good time to share more in the paper about the council's recent activities for the benefit of the community.

I wonder how many readers have experienced the frustration of large and long Zoom meetings, and to have that impacted by variable internet access around the region?

If we look at Gisborne District Council, for example, we have 13 elected members and also the mayor and council officers who need to participate in our Zoom meetings.

The mayor makes her best effort to manage that number of people.

One is conscious that it seems to take forever to have a paper discussed and for councillors to then have their opportunity for their perspective to be heard.

That is in contrast to the debate in the Council Chamber, which has a standing orders process around it.

That process seems to be fairer in terms of allowing numerous councillors to have their say and then for the paper to be ‘put' .

Via Zoom, there are time delays, with people having to raise their hand icon to speak, and then when their turn comes (and the mayor flags from time to time the order that she has noted for people to speak in and who remains in that speaking order) they need to — once prompted by the mayor — unmute themselves, and then finally they can contribute to the debate.

As you can tell, debating takes longer on Zoom than it does in person.

And, for some in this region, internet connectivity is random to say the least.

From time to time, the majority of our councillors are able to participate by Zoom.

However, others need to phone in to take part, with the mayor holding her cellphone while the meeting proceeds.

Or, when it comes to the councillors who live in the more remote places around the region, they sometimes have to attend the Chamber in person, sitting several metres apart from one another due to social-distancing.

The mayor does a fine job in trying to manage this mixed format and, at present, all council officers participate by Zoom for these meetings. So add all those numbers to the mix on the one Zoom call.

I can tell you that, from someone who likes to see action, the process is frustrating and drawn out, and the sooner we can all be back in one room face-to-face to make decisions for this region, the better.

The sooner Covid-19 is seen to be a waning influence in our lives, the better. Then, the sooner your elected councillors are able to meet face-to-face, the better it will be for democracy, in my view.

To make that happen sooner, now is the time to encourage your friends and whanau to get their booster shots as soon as they are eligible, and let's take reasonable precautions to protect all those around us.

But the world will move on and so should democracy, so that our meetings can be more meaningful and we can genuinely debate the topics in hand to benefit our ratepayers.