a day ago
City of Wyndham faces backlash for diverting funding from growing suburb
Tens of millions of dollars levied from developers in one of Melbourne's largest suburbs to be used for local infrastructure is set to be spent in other communities by the City of Wyndham, infuriating residents of Point Cook.
The decision by the council to allow $24 million in developer contributions to be spent elsewhere in the municipality has also prompted a state government MP to call for integrity agencies to probe decision making.
When new housing estates are built, developers make contributions to council with the money to go towards infrastructure.
Last year it was revealed council had $36 million in Point Cook developer contributions, raised two decades ago, sitting in council accounts.
Locals seized on the news, demanding their suburb — home to 70,000 people — receive the money for infrastructure, such as basketball courts or an aquatic centre.
Council used a third for a community centre in the suburb, but a majority of councillors then allocated $24.4 million for a community space somewhere in Wyndham.
He started an online petition to pressure the council to look after the suburb, which has fallen on deaf ears.
"This is really wrong. A lot of the community probably didn't know … so I wanted to create awareness, to say this is happening, this what our council are doing to us, and it's not right,'' he said.
Basketball is popular in the region but indoor courts for competition are scarce.
Families have to travel across Melbourne's west to find a place to play. It's caused leagues to turn away players, shorten games to accommodate so many teams and create extra byes to fit everyone in.
"It's ridiculous,'' Kate Coffey of the Altona Basketball Association said.
State Labor MP for Point Cook Mat Hilakari said council was aware of the need for sporting infrastructure in the suburb but had failed to fix the problem.
"Wyndham Council says that Point Cook requires the equivalent of 12 indoor basketball courts. We do not have a pool in Point Cook, and it is the largest and most multicultural suburb in the country," he told parliament last month.
"Wyndham Council has no plans to rectify these massive gaps."
He's also called for a probe from oversight agencies into council decision-making.
"What is council doing behind closed doors in confidential meetings? Are these decisions being made formally or informally by a majority councillor-grouping to carve up these funds?" Mr Hilakari said in parliament in April.
"We will not know, because we will not be told.
"There are agencies to look into this, and they should — the Local Government Inspectorate, council monitors, the Victorian Ombudsman and more."
Council has bristled at the suggestion of poor behaviour, writing to local government minister Nick Staikos saying it was concerning Mr Hilakari was using parliamentary privilege to "pedal misinformation and lies for a political attack that seeks to undermine community trust in council".
Wyndham City says it has no legal obligation to spend the money collected in Point Cook in the suburb and any suggestion to the contrary was "false and misleading".
Wyndham Mayor Mia Shaw said council was focused on exploring opportunities for a major regional community events space.
"The majority of councillors think this is the best way to spend the residual developer funds — so that all residents across Wyndham and elsewhere can benefit,'' Cr Shaw said in a statement.
"Our residents are telling us we don't have a venue for large events, that's why we're focusing on this new project.
"In line with the good governance principles outlined in the Local Government Act, council must govern in the best interests of the whole of the municipality."
She called on the state government to help fund projects such as a major basketball centre, which council could not afford to do on its own.
The state opposition's special representative on the western suburbs Moira Deeming said it set a terrible precedent and eroded trust in governance.
"I don't think it passes the pub test. Point Cook is famous for poorly planned, overcrowded roads and facilities," she said.
"In principle, if people pay rates into a fund on the promise of that money being reinvested in their area, then that's what should happen."
