When the system was reintroduced last year the council committed to only keep the webcast on file for a three-meeting cycle to the disappointment of councillors Giacomo Arnott and Jaimie Abbott.

The pair had discussed the matter prior to last Tuesday’s  meeting to get the wording right on the notice of motion he brought to the chamber.

Based on the file size of recent webcasts the advice from council staff to councillors was that council had enough room left in its 100 gigabyte plan each month to not exceed the limit if the videos were stored for a year.

“It’s important to acknowledge that the community is pushing for this,” Cr Arnott said, after acknowledging Cr Abbott for her assistance.

“I’m glad that the [council] report has shown that it won’t cost anything extra to keep these meetings for a year.”

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Cr Abbott also thanked Cr Arnott for putting the discussion on the agenda.

“I think it’s all about council being open transparent,” she said.

“It certainly benefits people living in East Ward, having the furthest to travel to council meetings.”

Cr John Nell said it wasn’t about saving money.

“I don’t want to go into all the details but if this webcasting was available in the last term there is no doubt those documents would be before the courts now,” he said, hinting at a defamation case the former mayor Bruce MacKenzie has brought against former councillor Geoff Dingle.

“It’s all about doing the right thing for the general public in making this service available but it’s very easy to get caught up and forget this is recording.

“Be a little cautious about being all things to all people because it’s very easy to slip up.”

Cr Paul Lemotte said he largely agreed with Cr Nell.

“Someone’s going to come unstuck with this because there is no parliamentary privilege like in other tiers of government,” he said.