Council Watch survey reveals what residents really think about local councils

Ratepayers are telling Victorian councils to stop pandering to minorities and start focusing on rubbish and roads. See the survey results.

Victorian ratepayers are calling on local councils to ditch their woke agendas and get back to basics.

Statewide surveys run by Council Watch revealed residents were tired of councillors with political aspirations and executives who “pandered to minorities” instead of focusing on rubbish and roads.

A poll gauging community perceptions found residents believed councils were not being run properly and that chief executives and other executives were “distracted and pandering to vocal minorities and lobby groups”.

Council Watch president Dean Hurlston said the peak body for ratepayers was consistently told that some councillors were “using their positions to drag councils into political issues”.

He said most survey respondents believed councils should not be “amplifying” climate change, equality, Indigenous issues and LGBTQIA+ issues.

Survey respondents believed councils should not be ‘amplifying’ climate change, equality, Indigenous issues and LGBTQIA+ issues. Picture: AFP

“What thousands of Victorians told us is that Councils need to urgently focus on core services,” Mr Hurlston said.

“Victorians want their local councils focused on local issues and high-quality local service delivery.

“Local services and ­solutions are what Victorians want, not global and inter­national issues.”

A staggering 96 per cent of survey respondents thought there was corruption in their local council – particularly in the areas of expense claims, project tenders and councillor decision-making.

About 1300 people responded to the Council Watch survey, which was ­designed to gauge community perceptions about councils.

More than 80 per cent of people rated their council’s performance as “terrible or poor” and 92 per cent wanted more councillors who were not aligned to political parties.

A Council Watch survey about budgets asked 1669 respondents to rank how they wanted their rates spent. The top priorities were maintaining and upgrading roads, footpaths and parks, and removing dumped rubbish.

At the bottom of the list were climate change plans and actions, equality/diversity, Indigenous reconciliation and LGBTQIA+ issues.

Indigenous reconciliation was among the bottom of the list of priorities. Picture: David Crosling

The Council Watch surveys came after a string of Melbourne councils – including Yarra, Merri-bek, Maribyrnong and Greater Dandenong – urged the federal government to call for a ceasefire in Gaza.

The step led to death threats against at least two councillors who did not support the move and prompted Local Government Minister Melissa Horne to agree that complex international issues should be “negotiated by world leaders rather than the Victorian local government sector”.

Elsewhere, Port Phillip and Monash councils were forced to cancel controversial drag queen story times at local libraries following threats from far-right extremist groups.