Councillor Ben Taylor has put a notice of motion up for the March 27 council meeting which aims to place limitations in future notices of motion when it comes to state, federal and even international issues.

This comes after the previous council meeting, where councillor Belinda Coates made a notice of motion to advocate to the federal government for a ceasefire in Palestine/Gaza.

At the meeting on February 28, Cr Taylor was against council making a stance on this, arguing they were not experts on foreign policy and called for a report from the council on governance procedures.

In his notice of motion preamble, Cr Taylor wrote matters came to council outside of their jurisdiction "which council has no legislated authority or responsibility, lacking a clear connection to City of Ballarat's ratepayers and residents and therefore, to have relatively low direct impact on them."

Cr Taylor said the notice of motion was about bringing back "common sense" to council.

"Because we're coming up (to) a council election, we're starting to see or hear more councils across the state putting through notices of motion on topics that aren't really related to council," he said.

Cr Taylor mentioned the ceasefire motion, as well as treaties and international accords.

He said international matters shouldn't come through local government.

"It should actually be local matters that comes through local government," Cr Taylor said.

In the past council has not taken formal positions on national issues despite other councils choosing to do so - for example, the council did not take a formal position on the 2023 Voice to Parliament Referendum.

The council have actions like the Reconciliation Action Plan, the Koorie Engagement Action Group and Ballarat's indigenous and Torres Strait Islander population makes up one per cent of the total, around 2100 people.

Cr Coates said Cr Taylor's motion, should it pass and restrict further notices of motion, was undemocratic.

"It's a really clear attempt to block the democratic process - to stifle and block debate and democracy," she said.

"I'm hoping most people will see it for what it really is - an unreasonable way to prevent issues being discussed by councillors, prevent advocacy and prevent any councillor representing the community."

Cr Coates said it could impact the community in a broad range of issues "from climate changes through to human rights and discrimination".

"It's a blatant form of censorship," she said.

Cr Taylor said it was not a form of censorship but a way to put a policy in place.

"The sad things is, this council has started to accept these things and now one has gone through, more are starting to come through," he said.

"Advocacy should be on local matters, not on international matters."

Cr Taylor referenced the Positions of Council Policy passed by Mount Alexander Shire Council in Castlemaine.

The motion would seek the council to look into developing a similar policy and also prepare a Ballarat council template.

The Mount Alexander policy purpose was "to define when and how council may, and when it will not, establish a formal position on a specific matter and/or undertake advocacy activities in relation to that matter."

Under this policy, the council would not establish a position or advocate if a matter was "the subject of a referendum" at a state or federal level, international "in nature" which the council had "no legislated authority or responsibility" or "considered by the mayor and chief executive officer to be too remote from the circumstances of Mount Alexander Shire's ratepayers and residents and therefore, to have relatively low direct impact on them".

The Municipal Association of Victoria president David Clark said "councils have a key role to play in the encouragement of active democracy within our local communities".

"This includes in the advocacy of key issues affecting the community, at whatever level the community sees fit," he said.

"In particular where other levels of government who have responsibilities in such areas choose not to debate matters in their respective parliaments, these matters can make their way to local council meetings in order that the community can give voice to their concerns.

The association advised councils that when considering such matters from community, that they recognise the complexity in the issue and to fairly portray all aspects.

Local government elections are coming up in October, but Cr Taylor said this notice of motion wasn't a campaign platform for him.

"It should be common sense - that's what we do as councillors," he said.

Cr Coates said her notices of motion were about local issues on a "array of advocacy issues" and not grandstanding.

"For example, the bus network advocacy position of City of Ballarat is a result of my notice of motion a couple of years ago," she said.

Cr Coates said these are issues councillors decide to advocate to the state and federal government about.

"I've put forward motions around supporting (the Australian Human Rights Commission's) Racism. It Stops With Me (campaign), which is is very much a local issue, but it's also a global issue