Ian Royall: Rates remind us we must participate or at least take notice of what our council does

Yarra Council has outdone itself this week — but as its issues pile up, alongside the rubbish, ratepayers must demand better.

Meredith farmer Adrian Mohr with his bills: More than two million Victorians will soon be receiving their household rates bill for this financial year. Picture: Yuri Kouzmin

About now, more than two million Victorians will be receiving their household rates bill for this financial year.

Yeah, thought that would cheer you up.

But everyone who has to stump up hundreds or thousands of dollars for their local council should seriously ask: “what does my council do for me?”

It’s a fair question. And no, it’s not just about the three Rs – roads, rates and rubbish. Think also of planning, parks, libraries and sports centres.

Every ratepayer has to demand that their council concentrates on those core issues.

Yet as we see all too often, councils want to get involved in matters outside their purview.

Yarra is an obvious example here – think rainbow inclusive flags, inclusion training for councillors, banana sculptures – and they’re not alone.

But Yarra this week outdid itself by also pushing back on giving its community a voice – restricting question time, requiring people to submit any question 24 hours before and only allowing one question a meeting. Hope you don’t want to ask about roads AND rubbish.

The City of Yarra spent a fifth of a $100,000 grant from the TAC on the artwork — dubbed ‘Fallen Fruit’ — in Rose St, Fitzroy. Picture: Alex Coppel

Adam and Kathleen Promnitz with their son, Xavier, 8 months, and other residents in Abbottsford who are upset at overflowing recycling bins. Picture: David Geraghty

Then on Tuesday, a barricade of desks was created in the chamber to separate the public from the councillors — a physical metaphor of muzzling community participation.

Let’s also consider the City of Moreland — or Merri-bek as it might become known. That name change was not on the election campaign agenda in 2020 and was then sprung on residents, most of whom it’s safe to say, would rather the council just empty their damned bins and not spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on something no-one thought they needed.

Gee, this council business would be a doddle if it wasn’t for those pesky residents. Like schools have pupil-free days, councils could try resident-free meetings.

Councils are supposed to be the coalface of local democracy, allowing an opportunity for a resident to get up and speak directly to their elected representatives. It’s a precious element of grassroots democracy.

On Tuesday night at Richmond Town Hall, Yarra resident Dorothy James did just that and got up and asked about the maintenance of footpaths, street cleaning and nature strips in Burnley.

Exactly as it should be. Making councillors and officers answerable for their decisions and daily operations.

Some councils discourage public questions because it can be time-consuming and awkward for councillors who are put on the spot. Well, precisely.

A barrier has been placed between the public and City of Yarra councillors at Richmond Town Hall.

We need to start participating or at least taking notice of what our council does.

All this mess at Yarra is occurring while under the supervision of a state government-appointed monitor, who was sent in last December to performance manage the place.

Plenty of residents are wondering if that move has actually made any difference — the monitor wasn’t physically at Tuesday’s meeting — and some are even calling on the state government to sack the lot and send in administrators.

Which would be a shame for the many good council staff at Yarra who do good work but are undermined by Greens-directed policy missteps and involvement in fringe issues.

But it’s certainly something that should be on Local Government Minister Melissa Horne’s agenda for consideration.

Of course, like everything in this space, it’s political. The state Labor government doesn’t want to be seen to run roughshod over a local council, not when it’s so close to an election and one which contains a seat it is hoping to retain.

The Yarra municipality is, in part, made up of the seat of Richmond, being vacated by the long-serving and popular MP Richard Wynne.

The Greens are now targeting the seat, and its candidate is Yarra councillor and former mayor Gabrielle de Vietri who is on leave from Town Hall while in campaign mode. Sacking the council could give the Greens enough political ammunition to win another Lower House seat.

Labor knows all too well its once-safe seat in neighbouring Melbourne has been represented by the Greens’ Ellen Sandell since 2014.

Regardless, what we can do, as much as we grumble about our rates, maybe now again we should participate or at least take notice of what our council does.

How many residents have had, without really noticing, their weekly recycling collection moved to fortnightly?

It’s been those sorts of frustrations with Yarra council that prompted many residents to agitate and speak out. They are not activists or political wannabes. They are people who just want to go about their daily lives and prefer not to have an interest in local politics. But feel they have no option.

So be like Dorothy, exercise your democratic right, speak up and keep the bastards honest.