By Luke Voogt
City Hall’s new membership of “advocacy group” Committee for Geelong is good value for $20,000, according to its chief executive officer.
Re-joining the committee was a “signal” for “collaboration on a number of issues”, Rebecca Casson said before leaving for China this week.
“We work in partnership Geelong council all the time but we haven’t seen the level of collaboration that we’re now experiencing,” she said.
Geelong’s previous council tore up its membership in 2013, with councillors accusing the committee of constantly criticising their decisions and confusing Canberra about local funding priorities.
Former mayor Darryn Lyons has publicly slammed the decision to re-join the committee as a waste of money.
The Indy revealed earlier this month that City Hall chief Kelvin Spiller had made the decision to apply for a new membership, costing $20,000 pro-rata for 2015/2016.
The City will pay $22,700 for subsequent years, avoiding GST as a government body.
Ms Casson said the committee would not lobby council to make particular decisions now that it was a member again.
The committee would manage any disagreement between the organisations the “same we would deal with it with any of our members”.
But Ms Casson said she believed that “the way our local government has been” had combined with manufacturing job losses to put a “focus on Geelong”.
“Many people in Melbourne have a perception that perhaps Geelong isn’t such a great place to invest,” she said.
“Our aim has been to change that narrative. Much of our work has been underpinning the earlier work… started by the council administrators.”
Ms Casson said the committee’s “diverse membership” ensured it represented Geelong’s interests.
“We’re not the committee for business. We’re not a lobby group, we’re an advocacy group.
“It would be impossible for us to push an individual member’s interests.”
Ms Casson will state the committee’s recommendations on Geelong’s next council to a Citizens Jury next month.
The 100-member jury will recommend to the State Government the number of councillors and wards, their structure and how the mayor and deputy should be elected.
Ms Casson flew to China with City Hall’s Brett Luxford, Premier Daniel Andrews and others in a delegation to promote regional Victoria.
“The committee has been putting Geelong on the map in different sectors,” she said.
