In question time on Tuesday afternoon, Greens councillor Jonathan Sri (The Gabba) asked Lord Mayor Graham Quirk why his administration "opposed filming in this chamber".

"I've spoken to many residents who do not have the ability to attend the public gallery on Tuesdays to observe council debates, nor do they have the time or specialist knowledge to work their way through the written minutes of council meetings," Cr Sri said.

"They've requested access to video records of what goes on in council."

Cr Sri said he understood concerns involved "hot-heated councillors" making defamatory statements, but those could be edited out before publishing, or councillors could refrain from making defamatory comments.

Cr Sri said a healthy democracy required transparency where voters could see and understand what their elected representatives were doing.

Cr Quirk pointed out that media companies were allowed to apply to the chair to film and broadcast proceedings.

"TV cameras can come in here whenever they want to, is my understanding, at of course, the discretion of the chair," Cr Quirk said.

Cr Sri then asked council chair Angela Owen if he could film the remainder of Tuesday's question time.

But Cr Owen denied the request on the basis Cr Sri was "not an approved media outlet".

The Gold Coast City Council live streams meetings online and also publishes archived broadcasts.

Its website says: "This gives the community greater access to council decisions and debate, and eliminates geographic barriers preventing the public from attending meetings."

Former premier Anna Bligh introduced legislation requiring councils with a population greater than 100,000 to broadcast the audio and visual of ordinary council meetings from 2012, but the Newman government scrapped the law.

A Brisbane City Council spokesman said filming in the council chamber was regulated by the Meetings Local Law under the City of Brisbane Act.

"Changes to the local law involve public consultation and approval by the state government," the spokesman said.

"The public broadcasting of council meetings is not currently permitted under the Local Law.

"Historically this has been due to the risk of potential expensive defamation costs being incurred by ratepayers because unlike the state government, there is no parliamentary privilege covering council meetings."

The spokesman pointed out that the council's chair regularly gave media outlets permission to record and film council meetings.

"Members of the public are welcome to attend council meetings. Seating is provided at the back of the chamber," he said.

The Queensland government live streams Parliament and public committee meetings online.

Later, Cr Sri said it was "disgraceful" that video recordings were not allowed of council's meetings.

"We already publish written minutes of council meetings online, so I see no compelling reason why we can't also publish video and audio recordings of the meetings," Cr Sri said.

"If councillors were able to record their own speeches in council meetings, it would be easier for them to keep residents informed about the inner-workings of Brisbane City Council."

Cr Sri said it would also make it easier for journalists to report on council issues and it would cost very little to allow live streaming or publish recordings online.

"Residents frequently tell me that council makes too many decisions behind closed doors," he said.

"It's almost 2017. How hard would it be to set up a webcam in the corner of the room?"