FIRST-term Greens councillor Jonathan Sri has slammed LNP committee chairpersons for wasting time, after 25 minutes of one 30-minute meeting was spent touring a pipe organ this week.

The Gabba ward representative vented his frustration at Brisbane City Council’s committee process, claiming the majority of the meetings were taken up with long presentations.

“As an example, a few weeks ago the lifestyle and community services (committee) took a 25-minute tour of the City Hall pipe organ,” Cr Sri wrote on Facebook.

“This week we had a tour of the Brisbane Square Library.

“While I quite enjoyed those tours, and think it’s important that councillors have a thorough understanding of the practical side of what council does, I think such tours and presentations should perhaps be scheduled for another time of the week.”

media_camera Greens councillor Jonathan Sri has been challenging some entrenched Brisbane City Council processes.

Council has eight committees that meet once a week to discuss council business. Each is chaired by an LNP councillor, with the remainder comprising a mixture of LNP, Labor and either a Greens or Independent councillor.

“On the committees I’ve observed, the LNP chairs tend to control debate quite strictly, with the result that adversarial communication styles have become more entrenched,” Cr Sri wrote.

“Perhaps because they feel they have no other option, some Labor councillors have gotten into the habit of trying to use the committee meetings to score party-political points rather than have positive, productive discussions.

“In response, LNP councillors seem to have become more defensive, so that even when I or one of the other non-LNP councillors raise constructive ideas and solutions, the committee chair is often unwilling to have a proper dialogue.

“The meetings sometimes feel more like staged performances than genuine dialogue.”

A council spokeswoman said there were no plans to change the committee process, and it had been in place for many years through both Labor and LNP administrations.

“Every committee member contributes to decisions on community petitions, has the opportunity to move motions, ask questions and debate policies,” the spokeswoman said.

“General business and questions sessions also provide the chance for committee members to put questions on notice.

“The recommendations of every agenda item of these committees is then debated by the next meeting of full council, allowing each and every councillor to have their say on a matter, before a vote by full council is taken.”

Council opposition leader Peter Cumming said: “Labor councillors have routinely requested briefings and presentations of substance from the LNP-dominated committees...

“Cr Shayne Sutton made a speech last week in council about this very issue: that the city planning meeting had shut down her questions about a recent development application.

“Despite being a member of that committee, Cr Sri did not rise to his feet in the council meeting to back Cr Sutton’s call for greater scrutiny at committee level.”