June 2025 Council meetings
Maribyrnong Council
By Ruby Fox
It was a bitter-sweet start to June’s Maribyrnong Council meeting, with the formal display of the late Sarah Carter’s mayoral robes commemorating her 16 years of service to Maribyrnong Council and the community.
The former mayor’s family was present for the occasion and her mother Gaynor Morris said the display was a “wonderful token”.
The ongoing major headache for Council however is the Port of Melbourne’s draft 2055 Port Development Strategy which seeks to expand and modernise the Port of Melbourne.
Council staff presented to councillors a 29-page submission objecting to the 30-year strategy as it will mean increased truck traffic, air quality and health concerns, loss of open and natural areas, increased industrialisation, potential impacts to the Maribyrnong River, and even more strain on local roads and infrastructure.
Cr Bernadette Thomas said the “submission marks a significant milestone in Council’s advocacy to improve air quality and the natural and urban environments in Maribyrnong”.
“One of these issues are cause for concern, but when combined in the one strategy for future management of the Port, then that concern accumulates and reverberates across our entire community.”
Cr Samantha Meredith reminded the meeting that Maribyrnong has “one of the worst air qualities” in the state, with “20,000 trucks everyday on the local streets.”
“Our residents deserve clean air and safe streets,” she said yet “the West is being asked to carry the burden of freight and logistics for the entire city and state without investment, relief or repent”.
As a result Mayor Pradeep Tiwari is seeking to meet with key government leaders and nearby councils to discuss the plan.
In other matters, safety in Footscray’s CBD was of concern yet again during public question time. Responding to a recent brutal attack in Footscray’s CBD which left a man in critical condition but who has since died as a result of his injuries. CEO Celia Haddock assured council that they are in “collaboration with police, community groups, and state and federal governments” to help improve Footscray’s safety.
Council adopted the Annual Budget for 2025/2026 and the following three years, projecting $120.1 million in revenue from general rates and charges.
Council then discussed the Draft Council Plan for 2025-2029 covering a long list of changes to consider. Some of the most prominent concerns include; making Central Footscray safe and inclusive, establishing a lower emission zone, and improving libraries, community centres, parks and open spaces.
A Draft Health and Wellbeing Plan was also presented which Cr Bernadette Thomas described as “ambitious in a really positive way” as “it responds to the needs and vulnerabilities we know exist in our community.”
The Council plans to close part of Market Street in West Footscray to vehicles, creating an open space for pedestrians and cyclists while maintaining reserve car park access. Some residents worry the closure will increase congestion, pushing traffic onto smaller streets near schools and parks, causing bottlenecks and disrupting access to essential services.
For a full report on the Budget, Council Plan and Health and Wellbeing Plan head to www.thewestsider.com
Brimbank Council
By Josie Vine
Yeah! Who says no one gives a crap about democracy! C’mon mate, say it to me face! Bring it on!
Although admittedly your correspondent did feel a little cold and lonely sitting all by herself in the public gallery at last month’s Brimbank council meeting.
Even the State Government’s municipal monitors – on their last CoD of Brimbank monitoring – were absent from the room.
And on such an auspicious night too! Council was voting on the final draft of the 2025/ 2026 annual budget – that’s the one that decides how all our hard-earned rates will be spent; on whether roads will be driveable and footpaths walkable and basketball courts … er … bounceable?
Dang! The budget even decides if swimming pools will be swimmable and libraries readable during those far away 30+ degree days!
And for all these services, Council’s final draft budget says rates are going to increase by three percent across all properties over the 2025-2026 financial year.
This means Council can pay the State Government’s increased landfill levy, which has risen from $132.76 per tonne to $169.79 in 2025/2026. This represents a 28 percent increase on all landfill waste disposal.
Then there’s the Emergency Services and Volunteers Fund (ESVF), and man, your correspondent reckons the State Government has a stiffly worded letter coming its way!
The Victorian Government announced the ESVF would replace the old Fire Services Property Levy (FSPL) at the end of last year. Now this would all be fine except Council is now required to collect said levy from you – the ratepayer.
Now Council says this new process “impacts” its ability to “allocate resources efficiently” and “diverts staff time and funds” from “other services”. Council says the zero power over the amount levied or how it is distributed is an “added burden”.
Hence, the recommendation to send Victorian Treasurer and Minister for Emergency Services, Jaclyn Symes, a missive of strong words through the Municipal Association of Victoria, was voted in unanimously.
Cr Virginia Tacos told the meeting the levy would have “significant impact” on the Brimbank community and individual households which are “already struggling” with the “notable increase” collected through rates.
“The financial effect of introducing this levy will have a ripple effect and impact local economies, service provision and community well-being.”
For all our coverage of Hobsons Bay and Wyndham council meetings, please go to www.thewestsider.com
Brimbank fights cuts to “levelling the playing field” with Sport Gender Equity programs
What’s with the red armbands man? At least five of your Brimbank councillors were wearing them at the last meeting. Like two strips of gaffer tape encircling their biceps.
Well it took ‘til agenda item 13.1 – one-and-a-half hours into the meeting – to find out the red armbands were in solidarity with those opposing the Victorian Government’s decision to discontinue funding for the Office for Women in Sport and Recreation (OWSR) and the Preventing Violence Through Sport Grants Program.
Council discovered the cuts after Cr Virginia Tacos attended a couple of local footy matches earlier last month, where players were wearing two red arm bands – one representing “standing against” the Gender Equity program’s defunding, and the other to “honour the women who have been killed this year due to gender-based violence”.
“The two are inextricably linked and this protest is one that can not be overlooked,” Cr Tacos said. “Tonight I am standing in solidarity with these women.”
Cr Tacos said last year 103 women were killed through domestic violence. The current number for 2025 is 23.
“There is a national crisis going on,” she said. “Sports clubs and participation offers a unique conduit for education and training around important themes, but without funding how do clubs that operate on a shoestring budget, and at a grass roots level, possibly deliver such important messages of equity and inclusion.”
Cr Maria Kerr said the programs “levelled the playing field” for women and girls in local sports clubs.
“They’ve helped break down barriers, build confidence and foster inclusion in what have historically been male-dominated spaces,” she said. “To cut them now, without warning, without consultation, is to abandon the progress we’ve made.”
Cr Daniel Kruk, showing an emerging penchant for the performative, stood an A4 folder upright on the table with a large number ‘12’ printed on its face before addressing the Chamber.
He said the number ‘12’ was counting the number of traumatic incidences perpetrated against Australian women since the council meeting began (at this point about one-and-three-quarter hours).
“Every eight minutes, statistically, another woman in Australia is assaulted and since we opened this meeting that number has been ticking up,” he said.
“We know that violence doesn’t just come out of nowhere; it’s shaped by culture, by inequality and by environments that we foster or fail to fund. That’s what makes the Victorian Government’s decision to defund the Office for Women is Sport and Recreation and Preventing Violence Through the Sports Grant Program so deeply disappointing.”
Council unanimously voted to write to Victorian Premier, Jacinta Allan, Treasurer, Jaclyn Symes and Community Sport Minister, Steve Dimopoulos, calling for a reconsideration of the cuts.
