WHEN their council axed its weekly public notices page about development applications from the local newspaper, the ratepayers of one city in regional NSW were not very impressed.
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"It has been identified that there is a perception within the community that removing the newspaper advertising was an attempt to hide/withhold information," a report to the councillors of Port Stephens, north of Newcastle, revealed in December.
Two years after the NSW government removed the long-standing requirement for local governments to openly notify ratepayers of DAs and other council activity in their town's local paper, Port Stephens Council recently resumed its advertising in the Port Stephens Examiner.
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It was a victory for deputy mayor Giacomo Arnott and councillor Leah Anderson, who led the push within the organisation for what Cr Arnott called "improving transparency and accountability".
But ratepayers were the main winners.
Council group manager of development services Steve Peart said the decision recognised that information about council activities had to be "accessible by all".
"Following changes to NSW legislation in 2020, we scaled down print advertising of our DAs," Mr Peart told the Examiner.
"The community has provided ongoing feedback that they'd like to see this reinstated to have more access to the information.
"With a diverse age demographic across Port Stephens, we know not everyone is on social media or using email, but we also acknowledge not everyone reads the paper.
"That's why we're using both digital and traditional print media, giving our community the opportunity for greater input into council's decision making."
In its submission to last year's federal parliamentary inquiry into regional newspapers, publisher ACM - the owner of this masthead - revealed that the April 2020 amendment to the Local Government Act allowing councils to bury notices about their decisions on their websites had stripped more than $2million in annual revenue from dozens of papers.
Removal of the traditional advertising requirement was criticised at the time as "an erosion of civic rights" - especially for older ratepayers without internet access or the skills to trawl cumbersome council websites.
ACM managing director Tony Kendall welcomed Port Stephens Council's decision and the support of councils like Blue Mountains and Albury, which had retained public notices in their local paper: "These councils recognise the value of local newspapers that are trusted by readers to be independent".
ACM newspapers are calling on the next state government to reverse the decision.
"Ratepayers want transparency about council decisions and communities want governments - state and local - to support local news and local jobs," Mr Kendall said.
