Ian Royall: Victoria has too many councils, here’s how to fix it

While Victorians love to grumble about their local council, they remain weirdly loyal. But with 79 councils, it’s time for some to go.

Banyule and Nillumbik have offices in the same suburb of Greensborough. Picture: Josie Hayden

OK, here’s an unpopular opinion. It’s time to start merging local councils in Victoria. I can hear letters to the editor being bashed out already.

Because as much as people grumble about their council, they remain weirdly loyal at the same time. The history of proposed mergers reflects that. Hands off our council, they say.

Let’s start with the Borough of Queenscliffe – it’s basically just the coastal towns of Queenscliff and Point Lonsdale. About 3000 people. That’s not a misprint – just 3000. Why isn’t it part of Greater Geelong (population 250,000), as Ocean Grove and St Leonards are?

There are 79 councils in Victoria. It wouldn’t be a big stretch to have a dozen fewer. Some in the sector believe there should only be a total of 20.

Mergers, in theory, would save money and reduce rates because of the simplification. Picture: Karen Dodd

So, despite the risk of angering people across the state, here are a few merger proposals. Hindmarsh and West Wimmera. Loddon and Buloke. Pyrenees and Ararat.

Most of those shires have fewer than 10,000 residents. There could be more people living in clumps of Melbourne apartment blocks. Why don’t they get their own council?

And here’s a few metropolitan unions. Maybe Melbourne can rein in our good friends in Yarra. Stonnington and Port Phillip. Maribyrnong and Hobsons Bay. Moreland and Darebin. Bayside and Kingston. Glen Eira and Monash.

Make sense? Yeah, but politically, nah. The idea of council mergers is high-grade political poison. No party wants to touch it.

And so an outdated system of bureaucratic behemoths plods on.

Maybe Melbourne can rein in our good friends in Yarra. Picture: Jay Town

As it stands, each council runs its own little empire. And while there is some sharing of operations, they all have chief executives who are paid almost as much as the Premier, as well as their own executive teams, processes and things like “digital transformation strategies”. Talk about replication.

Banyule and Nillumbik have offices in the same suburb of Greensborough. A proposal in 2019 to merge those two died before it was barely discussed. Apparently it caused “unnecessary stress” to the two communities.

Mergers, in theory, would save money and reduce rates because of the simplification. For starters, have just one chief executive paid a few hundred thousand dollars.

And given most councils outsource much of their operations these days, often to the same contractors, there must be big efficiencies to be gained.

I’m enough of a realist to know things don’t always work out like that, but it’s something to talk about.

Ian Royall is a Herald Sun reporter