Wednesday, 16 October 2024

Local government elections

Kat THEOPHANOUS (Northcote) (10:16): This month residents in my community will vote in local government elections. Local councils directly impact people’s lives, and I want to put a few truths on the record about how the Greens councillors at Darebin and Yarra have conducted themselves in recent years. The Greens have consistently voted on council in ways that hurt our community and make life harder for residents and businesses. Municipal monitors have been appointed three times across the two councils amidst serious concerns about governance, transparency and financial management. Years of dysfunction under the Greens-dominated councils have broken community trust and left locals to fight for basics like clean streets, functional sportsgrounds, kinder security and fair parking.

These are councils that have lost control, lost touch and lost perspective. In recent years they have voted to cut kinder leases to two years, risking closure and privatisation; blocked and delayed critical social housing projects; raised rates during a pandemic, against economic advice; tried to impose drastic 2-hour parking restrictions on local streets; voted against the protection of the Preston Market; neglected sportsgrounds to the point that some have had to close; brutally evicted businesses from Alphington with no notice, decimating the innovation precinct; voted against supporting the yes vote in the referendum; voted against prioritising safe pedestrian crossings outside kinders and schools; and ineptly squandered a $500,000 grant from the state government to upgrade Bill Lawry Oval, with nothing to show for it. We deserve better.