Meetings consultant David Julian Price is sitting in on all 27 of Perth's local council meetings to research a book on meeting procedure. He's found that councils with courteous, decisive chairs like Claremont's Jock Barker and Wanneroo's Tracey Roberts make faster and better decisions, while most councils suffer from councillors who ramble and lack respect for staff.
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Now the Post reports that there's a gentleman who wants to make it his mission to sit through at least one meeting of every one of Perth's 27 local councils. Is he completely mad? Well, let's find out. His name's David Price. I think there is a professional interest in all of this. David, good morning.
Oh, good morning, and yes, some would say I am mad. Yep.
What are you doing, David? Why are you subjecting yourself to this exercise?
Look, Gareth, there is a backstory. Look, I'm a consultant in meetings. meetings and in speaking. So I work with lots of local governments on their meeting procedure and their speaking when they stand up to speak at meetings. So it's interesting you just said about fog. That's one of the things— that's a great metaphor for a lot of local government meetings. There's a fog in the room. There's just not clarity. So I work with local governments to do that. And I thought, well, why not go and have a look at them all? I doubt that anyone's ever been to all 27. So it's going to take me 6— So it's a little bit— Exactly. Yes, yes. I recognize that I'm a little strange and very eccentric, some would say. But look, there's a purpose to it. I've written 4 books on meetings and meeting procedure, and I'm writing another one, and this is all part of getting the research for that.
Righto. So how many of the 27 have you been to so far?
I've done 6. I've done 6 so far. And Tuesday nights is the night for council meetings, and so that's why it's going to take me 6 months, because I've done the Monday nights and I've done the Wednesdays, and now I've just got Tuesdays left, and there's lots of them.
So you've got to chip away at Tuesdays.
Absolutely, yeah.
Where have you been so far?
I've done Melville, I've done Cambridge, Claremont, Swan, Wanneroo, and Armidale.
Okay, and is there anything that sort of sticks out to you that those councils all have in common?
Yeah, look, it's very interesting. As I said, one of the other areas I do is speaking, so I look at their procedures, but I also keep a tally of how much each councillor actually speaks, how many times they speak. And the thing that is universal across councils is there is a huge disparity within each council of the councillors' ability to speak concisely and with clarity. So, and it's just a reflection of the population, of course, but some people can get their point across in 30 seconds and some people speak for 10 minutes and you still don't know what they've said. So I just find that interesting. And the other really interesting thing I'm finding is the difference in the level of courtesy and respect between counsellors and counsellors and counsellors and the staff. Some people treat the staff a little less than professionally and others hold them in very high regard. And that's a really interesting observation to make. It's one of the ones I look for, the courtesy and respect that is flying around. Just like we said, there is a fog in the room. There's a level of courtesy and respect that sort of is hanging around in the room as well, and I look for that particularly.
So the councils that have more of that courtesy and respect between councillors and staff, are they making better decisions? Are they running more efficient meetings?
Oh, I think they're making better decisions because when there's a level of courtesy and respect, then the intelligence, if you like, that the overall intelligence the meeting raises, and when that's higher, then there's going to be better decisions made. And so the less personal issues become and the more objective based on the issue and the factors that need to be considered, then the more likely they are to make a better decision. And the interesting thing, Gareth, is they actually make quicker decisions. So what the research shows is that within reason, decisions that are made relatively fast are better than the decisions that take forever. And the flip of that is the research shows that decisions that take forever are very rarely in the long run better decisions.
Okay, so of the 6 that you've been to so far, are you prepared to name names about who's going well and who's going poorly?
I'm certainly prepared to name who's going well. Claremont and Wanneroo are the standouts. They are both really, really good, and it comes down to the mayors in all of the A lot of it is to do with the mayor, but in those particular cases, Jock Barker from Claremont was an excellent chairman of the meeting, and Tracey Roberts in Wanneroo, similarly, excellent way that they chair the meeting. And the thing that makes them good is that they're crisp and they're quick and they're decisive and they're polite and courteous and respectful.
Okay, well, Tracey might be heading for higher honours. I think that she's sniffing around preselection for the Labor Party for the seat of Pearce at the federal parliament to take on Christian Porter for the Labor Party. But anyway—
Yes, I have heard that.
By implication, I take it that Cambridge, Melville, Swan Armidale have got work to do?
Look, Claremont and Wanneroo probably have work to do as well. There are avenues for opportunities to improve in all of them, but Claremont and Wanneroo stand out at the moment. But I've only done 6 and there's another 21 to go. Who knows what I'll find?
Well, good luck. It's a thankless task. I do hope that the research purposes— you know, we hear that a bit, I'm doing it for research purposes—
but gee, I hope it bears fruit for you, David, because it's an agonising thing Well, look, surprisingly, Gareth, I enjoy it. I know, I know that makes me even more weird, but I really do enjoy it. I mean, I live and breathe meetings. I've done that for 40 years and I'm just fascinated. Now, I'm one of these people that goes to Parliament and sits in the gallery and just watches what goes on. So my family think I'm very strange.
David, been there, done that. Good on you, mate. We might check in later once you're further down the path. Thanks for your time on 6PR Breakfast this morning.
Thanks, Gareth.
Good on you. David Price, Meetings Adviser, speaking coach. Anyone been to even close to 27 different council meetings? What's the record among the 60 Hour Breakfast audience? So many people listening this morning have never been to a council meeting and have no desire to, and I totally understand the impulse.
