MORE COST SHIFTING ON TO LOCAL COUNCILS!!

The Monash Ratepayers Association has become aware of a major Departmental shift that will have huge ramifications for local councils but the responsible Minister, Candy Broad has not yet bothered to reveal her plans to the Local Government sector.

We learned early this week that Neighbourhood Houses and Community Centres are being shortchanged at the moment by the Bracks Government, and that the onus of responsibility for them is shifting from the Department of Housing to the Department of Local Government.

The Minister, recently launched ‘Neighbourhood Renewal’ as a new approach that offers a better deal for disadvantaged neighbourhoods in Victoria.

This strategy is an initiative of the Department of Human Services as part of the State Government’s Growing Victoria Together agenda to build more cohesive communities and reduce inequalities, she said.

But, there are claims that local government is being baited by the Bracks Government – that they throw out the lure and councils are forced to take the bait.”

What the Minister fails to mention is that this is another blatant example of cost shifting responsibilities onto local government.

The MRA’s source says that apparently this decision was made some weeks ago and yet the Minister for Local Government and Housing has not had the courtesy to advise anyone beyond her own Department of this major shift, nor did she consult with the Local Government sector prior to arriving at a decision that will have a big impact on ratepayers.

Ratepayers may be assured that they will be bearing the cost of this shift in responsibility.

Neighbourhood Houses and Community Centres are struggling to make ends meet due to a lack of recurrent funding by the Bracks Government and there is great community concern out there for their future viability.

For 30 years they have been operating in our local communities, building their capacity for individual inclusion, empowerment, community interaction, well being resilience, social cohesion and are providing life-long community pathways into education and employment and have been previously funded by the Department of Human Services.

The insidious process of cost shifting State responsibilities onto local government continues unabated

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