City of Melbourne just spent $899,000 on memberships to environmental and social justice organisations

The City of Melbourne spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on memberships to social justice organisations, with critics saying the council has prioritised virtue signalling and junkets over ratepayers.

The activists who protest in Melbourne’s CBD would be pleased with some of the City of Melbourne’s priorities. Picture: Diego Fedele

The City of Melbourne has been slammed for spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on memberships to environmental and social justice organisations.

For the financial year ending on June 30, 2024, the council spent $899,095.30 on 54 memberships to organisations including the Carbon Neutral Cities Alliance, Alliance for Gambling Reform, Diversity Council Australia Ltd, Menopause Friendly Australia, Australia China Business Council, The National Association of Women in Construction and many more.

The council spent $64,130.00 to sign up to the City of Sydney’s City Switch climate program, it spent $29,980.37 to be a member of Hume City Council’s Northern Alliance for Greenhouse Action and a further $1000 to be a member of an unspecified program from the City of Greater Dandenong.

Council Watch Victoria president Dean Hurlston said many of the memberships appeared to be a complete waste of ratepayers’ money.

“These are extraordinary and simply show the council propping up a range of privately funded ideological organisations with public moneys,” he said.

“Few, if any will benefit those who fill council coffers – these are self indulgent on behalf of the administration.

“The council needs to focus on the delivery of better footpaths, roads, services and experiences in the City of Melbourne.”

A Town Hall source says City of Melbourne is addicted to splurging taxpayer money, rather than focusing on practical matters like it’s filthy streets. Picture: Jason Edwards

A senior Town Hall source said the City of Melbourne was addicted to spending ratepayers’ money.

“Bureaucrats sign up to these organisations en masse so they can submit their pet project in whatever prizes are on offer and then they get to go on a ratepayer-funded junket to Sydney or Brisbane or even Singapore for the finals,” the source said.

“Frankly, most executives in this place have a disgusting attitude to the use of public funds.

“We spend nearly $1 million on this crap when the streets are filthy, graffiti is everywhere and infrastructure projects are stalled or have major cost blow outs.”

Mr Hurlston did offer some praise to the City of Melbourne for disclosing the megabucks it spends on memberships.

“These memberships expose the misuse of public moneys that councils are loathe to admit,” he said.

“Most councils continually refuse to release this information, at least the City of Melbourne have been transparent.”

A City of Melbourne spokeswoman said “working in partnership” was often more effective to “deliver for ratepayers”.

“Often local governments can have a stronger impact procuring services and advocating together for our communities – resulting in more funding and a greater influence on legislation and planning,” she said.

“We can also access a wealth of knowledge – from local experts to international leaders in public sector service delivery and investment – at a fraction of the cost of doing it alone.”

The $900,000 spend on memberships came at a time when the City of Melbourne’s Budget for that year was in a deficit to the tune of $17 million.

The council’s draft budget for 2025-26 has a meagre surplus of $150,000 – one-sixth of the amount spent on memberships to external organisations in the 2023-24 financial year.

The $900,000 is almost half the amount invested by Mr Reece in hiring up to 10 security guards that can only perform citizens’ arrests as part of a program that he lauded as the “biggest change to safety and policing in Victoria since the introduction of PSOs (protective service officers) on train stations over a decade ago”.

City of Melbourne memberships

Council of Capital City Lord Mayors – $116,000

City of Sydney City Switch – $64,130

Carbon Neutral Cities Alliance – $31,123.80

Hume City Council Northern Alliance for Greenhouse Action – $29,980.37

Alliance for Gambling Reform – $25,000

World Cities Culture Forum – $15,000

Australian Sustainable Built Environment Council – $8,300

Sports Environment Alliance – $7,272.72

Diversity Council Australia Ltd – $6,542.73

Asia Society Australia – $5,000

Energy Efficiency Council Inc. – $4,500

Menopause Friendly Australia – $4,200

International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives Australia/New Zealand – $3,510

Smart Cities Council – $3,300

Green Building Council Australia – $2,850

Australia China Business Council – $2,800

The National Association of Women in Construction – $2,727.27

Australia Japan Business Council of Victoria – $1,500

Australia Indonesia Business Council ltd – $1,250

The Australian Food Network – $1,200

City of Greater Dandenong – $1,000

FOI Assist P/L – $900