Mr Cook said the committee was waiting for reports to be completed on various projects, including the hospital capacity review, which is looking at how many hospital beds will be required in both regions in future and where they should be situated.
He considered his decision might not please everybody, but he was conscious of criticism last year when the committee met for about an hour.
This month's meeting was to have been in Invercargill and Mr Cook said the agenda did not justify bringing people from Wanaka, Oamaru and Queenstown to attend.
The meetings are alternated monthly between Invercargill and Dunedin with video conferencing offered to members in the city not hosting that month's meeting.
The committee has not met in public this year.
Mr Cook said the committee held a workshop in Dunedin last month, looking at its work plan and what it wanted to accomplish.
The free ranging discussion had been quite valuable, he said.
The community and public health advisory committee meeting will go ahead as planned tomorrow afternoon in Invercargill.
