Choosing council meeting software in Western Australia

This is a practical checklist for choosing meeting software, not legal advice. The meeting requirements below come from the Department of Local Government, Sport and Cultural Industries (DLGSC) guide A Guide to the Preparation of Agendas and Minutes. That guide is the third version (2019) and is marked "under review", and the Local Government Act 1995 has been amended since, so check the current Act and take your own advice before relying on any detail.

What should meeting software help you record?

1. Notice and agenda

The CEO must give elected members at least 72 hours' notice of an ordinary meeting, with an agenda (section 5.5(1) of the Act). Reports must be in writing, include a recommendation, and reach members in time to consider them.

Ask a supplier: can it distribute an agenda bundle to members and show what was distributed and when? Can report authors submit through an approval workflow?

2. Minutes content

Minutes must record each motion, who moved it and the outcome, each decision, written reasons for a decision that differs significantly from a committee or officer recommendation, a summary of public questions and responses, disclosed interests and the closing time (regulation 11 of the Local Government (Administration) Regulations 1996, as described in the guide).

Ask a supplier: does it capture each of these, including vote counts, and keep them searchable?

3. Confirming minutes

Councils confirm their own minutes (section 5.22(2)), and the presiding person signs and dates the confirmed minutes.

Ask a supplier: can minutes be marked unconfirmed or confirmed, with the date and who signed?

4. Closed meetings and confidential items

A meeting can be closed to the public only for a reason listed in section 5.23(2). The reason must be recorded, decisions made in a closed session must still be recorded in the publicly available minutes, and confidential reports must be kept in the local government's records.

Ask a supplier: can confidential items and confidential versions of the agenda and minutes be separated from the public ones? Can the closing reason be recorded? Where are confidential reports stored?

5. Attachments and records

Attachments must be referenced in the minutes, with their records location if they cannot be included.

Ask a supplier: does it integrate with your records system, such as Content Manager?

6. Electronic attendance and recording

A member who is not physically present can attend by telephone, video conference or other electronic means if approved, and the attendance is recorded in the minutes (regulation 14A, as described in the guide). The guide page does not cover live streaming. Several Western Australian councils have adopted their own live streaming and recording policies, so ask how a supplier would support yours.

Questions every supplier should answer

• Where does our data sit, and who can access it?
• How long does implementation take, and what training and support is included?
• How is it priced, and what is included in setup?
• Which Western Australian councils use it, and can we speak to one of a similar size?
• Can you build one of our recent agendas and minutes in a demo?

How Apollo approaches this

These are the relevant things Apollo does today. They are not a statement that Apollo meets any legal requirement for your council.

• A decisions register records each resolution with its ID, meeting, associated item, author and outcome, including vote counts.
• Agenda, minutes, late agenda and attachment bundles can include confidential versions, each with its own approval status.
• Approvals keep their history, and Apollo keeps a full audit trail of edits, approvals and submissions.
• Apollo integrates with Monarch EDRMS and Content Manager, and with Microsoft Word, Microsoft 365 and SharePoint.
• Apollo runs in your own Microsoft 365 tenant, so you decide where your data sits. See security and hosting.
• Setup typically takes under four weeks, with training included. See implementation and training. Apollo is quoted for each organisation: see pricing.
• Apollo is used by five shire councils in Western Australia, as at October 2026, and Monarch360 supports it from Perth.

Sources

• DLGSC, A Guide to the Preparation of Agendas and Minutes (third version, 2019, under review)
• Western Australian legislation: Local Government Act 1995 and Local Government (Administration) Regulations 1996 (check the current versions)

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