About this record
How it is compiled, what the labels mean, and how to report a mistake.
Gold Coast Council Watch is an independent record. It is not a City of Gold Coast publication and the City has no involvement in it. The City's published minutes are the official record. Where anything here differs from them, the minutes are correct.
What's included
Every motion recorded in the published minutes of Full Council, special Council and budget meetings, and the City's standing committees, from the start of this Council term in April 2024. A meeting appears once the City publishes its minutes, usually within about ten days. Until then it is listed under Meetings without its decisions.
Council meetings are shown by default. Committee votes, which are recommendations until Full Council adopts them, are under the meeting filter and on each meeting's page. Routine and procedural items (confirming minutes, condolences, leave of absence, moving into closed session and similar) are hidden unless you switch them on.
How each vote is known
Division. A councillor called for a division and the minutes name how each councillor voted. Only these votes show genuine disagreement, and they drive the councillor figures and the "who votes with whom" lists.
Carried unanimously. The chair declared the motion carried unanimously. The names shown are the voting members the minutes record as present.
Voices. No division was called. The minutes record the result only, so no names are shown. This record never guesses how anyone voted.
Recorded. The minutes name an individual councillor as voting against, abstaining or not voting, for example because of a declared conflict of interest.
What the labels mean
Split vote: a division with councillors on both sides, or a decision where the minutes record a councillor's dissent by name. Councillors' motions: items brought through general business, a notice of motion or a mayoral minute. Closed session item: an item Council considered with the public excluded. These are our descriptions of what the minutes record, not the City's terms.
How the text is shown
Motion wording is taken from the minutes. Page headers and line breaks from the PDF layout have been removed. Motions longer than about 6,000 characters are cut and marked as an extract, with a link to the full minutes. Item titles, which the City sets in capitals, are shown in title case. Items tagged “Minutes don't add up” are shown exactly as recorded, but something in the minutes doesn't add up, such as a tally that doesn't match the names listed. The note on each item explains.
Recordings
Where a meeting was streamed, links open the City's own recording on YouTube. Where the time of a division's roll call has been matched from the recording, the link starts there. Times may be a few seconds out. Council Watch does not host or republish any recording.
Corrections
Every item has been extracted from the minutes by software and checked, but mistakes are possible. If you think something here is wrong, use the contact form (each decision has a "Report a mistake" link that fills in which one). It will be checked against the minutes and corrected, and corrections are logged.
Copyright
Motion wording is extracted from the City of Gold Coast's published minutes, which remain the City's copyright, and is reproduced here for public information about how Council voted.