Flying flags in support of aromantic people; an investigation into how to ban nuclear weapons; a plan to grow and sell medicinal cannabis; street signs with anti-racism slogans, and a motion in support of Palestine on the same day that terrorist group Hamas fired more than 150 rockets into Israel.
The mantra “roads, rates and rubbish” once defined the purpose of local governments. But in recent years, many of Victoria’s 79 councils have been advocating on issues that – on the surface, at least – are somewhat removed from the core business of councils.
Many ratepayers and residents have welcomed this advocacy with open arms, happy that their elected representatives are standing up for their communities and speaking up on issues, especially those that their state and federal counterparts may shy away from.
Others disagree, calling it a waste of money and resources that could be better spent on much-needed services, such as libraries, maternal and child health, and support for local small businesses.
Kathryn Arndt is chief executive officer of the Victorian Local Governance Association, and is accustomed to this cycle of support and outrage that the increasing politicisation of councils generate.
“Any issue that a council does get involved in should be done so only as it is consistent with their own municipal health and wellbeing plan, and consistent with any community sentiment or wish, and that issue is important to their community,” she says.
“I think there’s a misunderstanding about what councils actually do.”
The Victorian Local Government Act 1989 stated that councils should advocate on issues that were important to their communities. The act was superseded by the 2020 version, which removed this section.
“The new act [says] more about the role of the council to provide good governance for the wellbeing and the benefit of the community,” Arndt explains. “This is something that is also not very well understood by a lot of people and that is, unlike any other level of government, a group of councillors are actually required to govern the business of the council.”
Local government collectively in Victoria is a $9bn machine, with each council providing on average about 140 services, ranging from roads to aged care facilities. Many services have been delegated to them by the federal and state governments. At the same time, both levels of government have cut funding to councils for more than a decade, through cost-shifting and a drop in grants.
This has placed increasing financial pressure on local governments, which they have – in part – counteracted with hiking up rates, which are calculated based on property prices. And despite an Andrews government cap on rates to CPI – which this year will be 1.75% – some ratepayers continue to be faced with whopping increases of up to 18%.
Verity Webb, spokeswoman for the Victorian Ratepayers Association, says that given the financial pressures many councils face, they should focus on their core business and reining in costs, rather than speaking out on political issues that have little to do with their day-to-day activities.
“Most councils are broke. Wage bills are outrageous and while ratepayers were losing jobs and income, some councils were hiring staff and [providing] pay rises,” Webb says. “The reason councils get involved in politics is because we have councillors who have nothing better to do than waste time and money dabbling in pet projects.”
She added that too many councillors “waste time and money trying to catch the attention of state and federal power brokers by jumping on popular bandwagons”.
But Stephen Jolly, a five-term Socialist councillor with Yarra City Council, says there isn’t a “Berlin Wall” between what is a local, state or federal issue.
“One of the big issues I deal with is public housing; 13% of Yarra’s population live in public housing and they are overwhelmingly low-income and non-white,” he says.
“Now, that’s a state issue, but they have burning life-and-death issues every day, so we openly campaign to improve and extend public housing and social housing.
“You could technically say, ‘well, that’s not a council issue’, and you’d be right. But we’d be writing off the poorest and most vulnerable people in our community. It’s just not as clean-cut as some people argue.”
Jolly points out that Yarra was the first Victorian council to cease acknowledging or celebrating Australia Day, in 2017, for which it received a significant backlash in the media. And while the cause remains controversial, it has unquestionably garnered further momentum in recent years.
The right likes to rail against what the Institute of Public Affairs director of policy Gideon Rozner called the “loopy rules” and “virtue signalling” of councils.
“From foreign policy, to climate, to dictating what food people are allowed to sell at food trucks, local councils are increasingly becoming fiefdoms where power-hungry local representatives are taking on responsibilities that should be reserved for state or federal governments,’ he said.
But Arndt says issues like LGBTIQ+, reconciliation and the climate crisis are important ones for councils to focus on.
“There are demographics within municipality communities that are at risk and that do require support to ensure their health and wellbeing,” she says.
“Those who are criticising don’t understand the responsibilities of councils and are looking at councils in a very narrow way.”
