- Published:
- Thursday 13 October 2016
The Victorian Grants Commission Annual Report, tabled today, has confirmed the Turnbull Government’s $200 million cut to local government funding since an indexation freeze was put in place.
This is the third year in a row that the Liberals have frozen indexation on financial assistance grants to Victorian councils, resulting in huge losses.
The Victorian Grants Commission allocates funds based on the relative needs of councils, with rural councils facing the challenge of lower rate bases, receiving a much larger share of grants than their city counterparts.
Because of this, just 13 per cent of the population receives 44 per cent of the grants available in order to assist those councils.
The Liberals’ indexation freeze on funding for local government means Victoria’s councils are missing out on significant funding for much needed services like road maintenance, maternal and child health and kindergartens.
In stark contrast, the Labor Government is providing record library funding, $50 million for infrastructure projects in Melbourne’s 10 urban-fringe councils and a new finance support team for councils doing it tough.
Quotes attributable to Minister for Local Government Natalie Hutchins
“Our councils need support from Malcolm Turnbull – not cuts to their funding.”
“We have invested a record amount in local government and we urge our Federal counterparts to follow our lead in reforming and supporting the sector.”