Darebin residents dissatisfied with ‘woke’ council, demand focus on local issues

It’s official: Darebin residents want their council to focus on cleaning graffiti and fixing parks — not banning nuclear weapons or men from jobs.

A “woke” inner Melbourne council which banned men from applying for a job as a streetsweeper, and which is trying to spearhead a ban on nuclear weapons, was shocked to learn locals are becoming less satisfied with its performance.

In annual survey results made public this week, the council suffered “statistically significant” drops in satisfaction levels relating to its lobbying on “key issues”, its communication of the programs and services it offers, and its level of community consultation.

The results prompted councillor Gaetano Greco, who led the council’s so-called “nuclear weapons ban” to say: “I think it’s important that we look at (the survey) for what it is”.

“We always need to do better in representing the community.”

Darebin councillor Gaetano Greco said the council needed to “to better in representing the community”. Picture: Stuart Milligan

Darebin mayor Lina Messina. A ratepayer survey told the council to focus more on local issues. Picture: Mark Wilson

While the council has been widely criticised for its focus on niche progressive issues, and its dabbling in international affairs, ratepayers overwhelmingly told the council they wanted it to focus on local issues.

Among the top issues for ratepayers wanted the council to focus on were planning and development, street trees, parks and footpaths.

The survey results indicated a particular dissatisfaction with the council’s efforts “managing the issue of graffiti”.

“The decline in satisfaction with (graffiti cleaning) was statistically significant”, a report presented to council on Monday night said.

Likewise, ratepayers were less satisfied than in the past with the council’s efforts to maintain bike paths.

“The Darebin Annual Community Survey results have overall been less favourable this year,” the report said.

Darebin councillor Susan Rennie said the survey results were “really interesting”. Picture: Andy Brownbill

When confronted with the survey results, the council went seeking answers and concluded, the drop in ratepayer satisfaction, was a result, in part, of the use of telephone surveys instead of face-to-face interviews with ratepayers

In a report presented to council, a staffer said residents seem to feel “more confident sharing negative feedback via telephone”.

Councillor Susan Rennie said the survey results were “really interesting” and the drop in community satisfaction levels could be explained.

“You never want your satisfaction levels to go down,” she said.

She said the council was doing a better job at cleaning up graffiti, but that residents were likely spending more time in their local area and were “noticing things in their street more than they have in the past”.

Greens Councillor Trent McCarthy said Herald Sun readers and 3AW listeners were wrong to think councils should focus only on “rates, roads and rubbish”.

Ratepayers Victoria president Dean Hurlston has previously criticised the council’s focus on “woke” issues.