I don't think that the result of this vote will be any surprise - unless there is some sort of epiphany of moral and civic responsibility between now and Tuesday evening. For a community that is finally finding its voice, to be struck silent by these sort of tactics is an absolute disgrace. It will only fuel the fire of discontent that is already burning strongly in this community. It is highly unlikely that a suitable result will emerge from the Fairfield Council on Tuesday night. The fight for freedom of speech, accountability and transparency will have to continue in other quarters. This outrageous behaviour needs to be stored in the memory banks for the next Council and NSW State elections. The ALP and any of their other allegedly independent or minor party supporters that condone this type of undemocratic behaviour will need to be dealt with by the electorate. I don't know who is supplying the local ALP with their tactical and strategic advice, but they really are their own worst enemies. They continue to take actions that will only result in them shooting themselves in the foot, over and over. They are running the risk of being the ultimate victims of their own demise. We seemingly have a group of people that blunder and stumble from one fiasco to the next. This community has had more than enough and won't take it any more. It really is time for change.

It is beneficial to a poorly functioning council to encourage written questions to the administration rather than through a public forum because the matter is buried in files and the public never gets to hear of it. Any evidence of poor performance is thus contained. The present situation has arisen because the chairperson, the mayor, has not had the skills to steer parts of council meetings successfully. I think too from my observations that he has a tendency to “project” onto the public and concluding that it has a political agenda. A mayor who says to a resident asking a legitimate question of concern that if he puts rubbish on council he will get rubbish back is surely demonstrating that. The decision to use police to silence speech would not have occurred had the mayor possessed the acumen to steer the last meeting to a successful outcome. If a person belongs to any group or party he or she still has the fundamental right to put questions to the council on council matters. I refer to Liverpool Council’s code of meeting practice paragraph 26 which has more wisdom to it than that proposed by Fairfield council. Providing that a person putting a question acts with transparency and accountability and provides disclosure there ought to be no impediment to putting the question. It is not the public that has politicised this matter of fundamental importance. It has been the politicians. Beware to any councillor that votes to silence the voice of the people, for there will be consequences at the ballot box. I will be one who will work towards that end. Those that voted to silence speech at the last meeting have already been politically wounded and in one particular case, in this admirer’s mind, the good work he has done in the past has been tarnished.

Fairfield City Council should be ashamed of itself. This is bright RED dictatorship at its peak. An investigation is required into the murky waters of paperwork that lies hidden in the council archives.

The answer is NO why try to stop communication from the community members. What is the Council trying to hide. Not allowing the community to be heard or voiced is a disgrace and shows that the Council are not prepared to listen to others. This certainly shows a lack of respect and responsiblity from the council itself. Untrustworthy, lack of compassion do we really want this kind of leadership in the present. Their certainly not showing us a good example only of who they really are. This tells me that council are delibrately trying not to disclose any transparancy to the community or are afraid to come out with the truth. I would be very cautious with your tongue and actions Mr Mayor.

If and when the vote is passed, I will raise a complaint with the NSW ombudsman, regarding an abuse of administrative power. The state government is subject to laws and regulations and this savours strongly of unjust discrimination. I would suggest everybody else that knows anything about the political and legal system to flood the inboxes of the relevant authorities including any state Labor members that will listen. Freedom of political speech is an implied freedom in the Australian Constitution, no piece of delegated legislation or bylaw instituted by a council should be allowed to circumvent or place unreasonable constraints on this. We should take this fight to the courts if we have to.

We (Greens) were the first to level criticism at Council for removing the microphone making it difficult for residents to have their say. We were also critical of the way someone like Charles Gream could be attacked by the Mayor and others for trying to have his say about the awful state of rubbish in our area – this was REAL censorship. We were also pleased to see that the microphone was returned, but again came out and criticised the Mayor for his ham-fisted gagging of people because of their political affiliation. While we don’t have a problem with some parameters being put in place for people to speak at Council meetings (time allowed, code-of-conduct around things like language), and even to the extent of questions being submitted early so the Councillors can prepare researched answers, we don’t want to see ANYBODY prevented from speaking. Make no mistake – we still think that there are people using this for mischief, but we are TOTALLY opposed to censorship of people based on their political views – the same CANNOT be said for the major Parties. So it's very interesting to see the attitude that anybody disagreeing with the Libs is automatically an ALP supporter – have a look over the life of the current Parliament to see that the Libs vote WITH the ALP almost 90% of the time – the Greens vote with them about 50% of the time. If you want a REAL opposition, you might forget the spin and consider the Party that can think for itself.

Oh goody, yet another ad for the Greens. When they stop preferencing Labor so heavily, then they may start to have some credibility on the score of being some sort of opposition. Until then they will remain a joke. It's not all about nice things like saving, whales. When it comes to the crunch the Greens have some really looney tunes policies, that a lot of people voting for them don't even realise. Too many voters unfortunately don't really do their their homework on parties like the Greens. Have a look on their website and read it VERY carefully and THINK about the implications of it. They have an awful damn lot to say on a regular basis in this area for some reason. I have heard it claimed that in the current political climate the local Greens guru believes that the Libs think the South West of Sydney is fertile ground to take votes from Labor. I would suggest that the Greens think the very same thing. This the reason we keep hearing from them on such regular basis. Any vote for the Greens is a vote for Labor in a backdoor way. What is at stake is far too important. There is no second chances here folks, we need genuine change at the next opportunity. When it comes to the issues of the ALP dominated Fairfield Council, I really think that there needs some close examination and scrutiny of everyone and everything that has gone on over the last decade or two. Who all the players are. What connections they have. Donations. The various strange decisions that have occured. Things that get done, or don't get done. The avoiding of scrutiny, accountability and transparency. The supression of freedom of speech, and a range of other issues. There is just something not right about the place, and the community is suffering. We need to find out what is going on. The fiasco regarding the further attempts to close down accountability and freedom of speech that will occur on Tuesday, is just another example. The list grows and grows and grows. Further fuel on the fire. It's time for change.

More spin from the resident cheerleader for the Liberals. It seems that it's fine for the indignant "get rid of the ALP" rhetoric by the right-wing posters, but anything we post is an "ad" - hilarious. Again it's the "divine right" mentality that only the Libs and the ALP can have opinions or stand for election. I think you should get your facts straight and look at the preferencing in State and Local elections in this area - the Greens were the only Party to NOT do preference deals on how-to-vote forms with anyone. And while you're at it, you really should come clean about preferences. The reality is that in lower house seats candidates cannot allocate preferences, and in upper house seats people have an option to vote "below the line" - this business about "it's another vote for Labor" is yet another long-time spin tactic to prey on many people's unfamiliarity with our voting system. At ALL levels of government, the VOTER is the person who can decide where their vote goes - in NSW elections (which are optional preferential) you don't need to put any more than one selection in the Assembly and a small number in the Legislative Council. As far as policies go, we're very happy to put them forward and stand behind them - and not be a "Bermuda Triangle" of policy like the Conservatives. THAT'S the real reason you keep hearing from us - because we have real issues to talk about.

Thankfully we will never have to worry about the prospect of a Greens Government, so it's all just a distraction anyway. Sooner or later they will go the way of other leftist outfits such as the Australian Democrats, and never be heard of again.

Fairfield council’s website still shows the date of tomorrow’s meeting as 23 June yet the date of 30 June has been known for at least a month. Elements of this administration are administratively challenged and need to move on to make room for administrators who are not administratively challenged. The sooner the better.