Randwick Greens councillor calls for Christmas budget funds to be redirected to multicultural festival in row over festive budget
A funding row over the cost of Christmas decorations and festivities in Sydney’s east has broken out with a Greens councillor pushing for a chunk of funds to be redirected to hosting a multicultural festival to celebrate all faiths.
Central Sydney
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A funding row over the cost of Christmas decorations and festivities in Sydney’s east has broken out with a Greens councillor pushing for a chunk of funds to be redirected to hosting a multicultural festival to celebrate all faiths.
Randwick councillor Rafaela Pandolfini has slammed her council’s festive budget allocation after it was revealed the cost of displaying Christmas trees, lighting and wreaths to decorate the local government area for Christmas will cost ratepayers $524,725 this year.
The figure is a sharp jump from the $135,000 cost for the same budget item last financial year and comes on top of $128,000 allocation to fund a mayoral Christmas party.
Ms Pandolfini has called for $300,000 to be redirected from the Christmas budget to hosting a new multicultural festival which she said would recognise the region’s diversity and celebrate all faiths.
“$500,000 is an astronomical amount of money to be spending on decorations and wreaths when not everyone recognises or celebrates Christmas,” she said.
“It’s not clear why the budget’s increased so much and I think it’s way too much to be spending in the current environment when cost of living is going through the roof.
“There’s also a cost on the environment because Christmas decorations go up and down for a couple of weeks.
“Having a multicultural festival would not be as heavy on the environment and it would be something for everyone in the community to enjoy.”
Randwick Council is known for hosting one of Sydney’s largest celebrations of Christmas cheer including the popular Coogee carols and fireworks show which draws huge crowds to the beachside suburb.
Randwick Liberal councillor Daniel Rosenfeld said he could not support cutting back funding from the council’s Christmas budget.
“If there was a cut back there’s potential for disquiet from the community because people love the Christmas events the council puts on each year,” he said.
“I think especially this year it will be good to have some Christmas cheer and celebration because a lot of people have been doing it tough with the cost-of-living crisis.”
The council’s budget document shows $524,725 will be used to pay for a range of festive staples including Christmas decorations, trees and lighting.
There is also an additional $128,125 budget allocation for a council-run Christmas party which will be hosted by the Randwick Mayor as a way of thanking community members for their contributions over the year.
A futher $61,500 has been allocated in the budget to fund community Christmas concerts across the local government area.
In a statement, Randwick Council defended the budget increase – saying the additional funding will be used to “expand the roll out of Christmas activations to include more town centres across the local government area”.
“This year’s Christmas decorations and activations will be bigger, better and more widespread than ever,” a council spokesman said.
Ms Pandolfini, however, believes redirecting funds from the Christmas budget to a multicultural festival could provide greater benefits to overlooked parts of the local government area including Kensington and Kingsford, which have been impacted by years of light rail construction works.
“Every town centre apart from Coogee and Randwick has empty shops and small businesses are closing,” she said.
“Reinjecting money for a multicultural festival will be a great way to attract people to those town centres,” she said.
Following Ms Pandolfini’s call, the council is preparing a report on additional funding that may be able to be found for a multicultural festival.
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