South Waikato council walkout after mayor challenged on camera ban by councillors

South Waikato Mayor Gary (Puku) Petley. Photo / Supplied

Chaotic scenes erupted at a South Waikato council meeting when two elected members began yelling at the mayor about a YouTuber filming the interaction.

South Waikato District Council was forced to abandon its meeting today after Mayor Gary Petley asked a member of the public to put their camera away.

The meeting could not start because of “unruly behaviour disrupting proceedings”.

The mayhem began when some councillors tried to argue that filming was within the person’s rights.

Councillors tried to raise a “point of order” against the mayor, which was considered to be an interruption before a meeting had officially begun.

A council spokesperson said councillor Zed Latinovic “interjected” while the mayor was addressing Bruce Simpson, the member of the public who was filming.

Latinovic yelled “point of order” and proceeded to read out section 12.4 of the Standing Orders, while the chair was still talking.

“However, since the meeting hadn’t begun, the member’s interruption of the chair was not recorded as a point of order,” the spokesperson said.

Mayor Petley asked a member of the public to put away his camera as he had not sought prior permission to film, which was required in the council’s Standing Orders.

“As I was communicating with a member of the public, councillor Zed Latinovic, followed by councillor Dave Shaw, attempted to raise a Point of Order, which wasn’t possible as the meeting had not started,” Mayor Petley said.

“It’s very hard to start a meeting while your elected members are yelling over the top of you.”

The Waikato Times previously reported a similar incident regarding Simpson at the council chambers in 2025, where he refused to turn his camera off.

Petley said the meeting was being livestreamed so Simpson had no need to record it himself, and that other people in the chamber had not consented to be filmed.

Simpson said he would not stop and would remove any footage of those not willing to be filmed.

Simpson said the council’s livestream was notoriously unreliable and he was there to record proceedings for his YouTube channel, and “any other concerned citizens”.

Simpson argued he was filming in a public place and was well within his rights.

In this recent incident, Petley said the behaviour of Latinovic and sections of the public gallery was “unacceptable on this occasion”.

“This completely undermines the democratic process and meant we were unable to proceed with a meeting in which we were scheduled to discuss a number of topics which are crucial to our community – including the upcoming Annual Plan and Fees and Charges,” Petley said.

An update for the meeting will be confirmed at a later date.

Malisha Kumar is a multimedia journalist based in Hamilton. She joined the Waikato Herald in 2023 after working for Radio 1XX in Whakatāne.