Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs Ipswich Mayor Teresa Harding is pushing back against new rules that she claims will gag her from speaking to the media, telling 4BC her rivals are “removing the powers of the mayor by stealth”.The Australian reported today that changes to rules around which councillors can speak on which issues, expected to be passed through council today, would mean Harding could not comment on major city issues.Harding told 4BC Mornings with Bill McDonald it would mean she could not use council resources to put out media releases, and that council’s media team would refer journalists’ questions to committee chairs instead of the mayor.She described the move, put forward by long-serving councillor Paul Tully, as “an ongoing targeted campaign to diminish the role and the credibility of the mayor”.“This has been an ongoing battle. We do have a difference of opinion when it comes to transparency and accountability,” she said. “I want the books open and I want them left open and I don’t think that’s a view shared by all the councillors.”Ipswich Mayor Teresa Harding at the hanging of Mark Rothko’s 1957 #20, at Ipswich Art Gallery.Credit: City of IpswichShe added that she had notified the minister for local government – the LNP’s Ann Leahy – about the plan. “So we’ll see what happens.”Tully, who was deputy mayor when the council was sacked in 2018, and has since been re-elected, told The Australian the proposed changes were “intended to clarify the role of committee chairs in talking to the media”.“It makes sense that the lead spokesperson is the committee chair because they’re the ones that are presenting the reports and recommendations to the council,” he said. “What’s she is saying is an exaggeration, a misrepresentation of the motion … She is free to speak on issues, on any matter.”Health Minister Tim Nicholls, a former Brisbane city councillor, said it seemed “extraordinary” the mayor could not comment on behalf of the council, but “as we’ve often said, councils are the masters of their own destiny”.
