Adopt a policy preventing councillors blocking public comments

To the Mayor and Councillors of Logan City Council,

Residents are concerned about the increasing use of social media by elected officials to communicate council decisions, public announcements, policy positions and community information.

In practice, these platforms now function as modern public forums through which residents receive information and engage with their elected representatives.
Petitioners note that Queensland local governments are required under the Local Government Act 2009 to operate in accordance with principles of transparent and effective processes, democratic representation and meaningful community engagement.

Concerns arise where constituents are blocked, or comments are hidden or filtered, on social media pages used by elected officials to communicate council matters. Such practices may limit reasonable community participation and risk creating a curated or misleading representation of public discussion surrounding council decisions.

Residents believe that when social media is used as a primary communication channel for council matters, those spaces should reflect the transparency and openness expected of local government engagement with the community.

The petitioners request that Logan City Council adopt a formal policy governing the use of social media by elected officials when communicating council business.

This policy should ensure that:

• Constituents are not blocked from social media pages used by a Mayor or Councillor to communicate official council information, except in cases involving harassment, threats, unlawful content or sustained abusive conduct.
• Comments made by residents are not hidden, filtered or restricted solely because they express criticism, disagreement or scrutiny of council decisions or elected officials.
• Any moderation of comments is conducted transparently and in accordance with a publicly available moderation policy applied consistently to all users.
• Residents retain the ability to view and participate in the full public discussion surrounding council matters communicated by elected representatives