City of Greater Geelong (CoGG) cancelled a special meeting to decide on the future of its in-home care services after backlash from unions, MPs and the community.
Geelong council had scheduled a special meeting for Thursday, April 10 to consider a report from City officers recommending the City transition all in-home community care clients to “specialist local providers”.
On Tuesday morning CoGG chief executive Ali Wastie announced the cancellation of the Thursday night meeting to “enable further consultation”.
“The City welcomes the opportunity to work through this process in good faith with our employees and the Australian Services Union (ASU),” Ms Wastie said.
The turnaround came less than an hour before the City was scheduled to attend a Fair Work Commission hearing with the ASU on the matter.
The cancellation also came only 24 hours after Geelong mayor Stretch Kontelj hit out at local members of parliament Christine Couzens, Ella George and Alison Marchant, as well as Minister for Regional Development Gayle Tierney.
The four MPs released a joint statement on Wednesday, April 2 asking councillors not to support the recommendations.
“We urge all Geelong councillors, particularly those who stood at the recent council elections on the Back-to-Basics platform, to reject this proposal to axe aged care services to Geelong ratepayers,” they said.
“Every councillor should seriously consider the impact of this decision, they have a responsibility to not only these 300 workers but to approximately 3000 residents who will be impacted.
“Aged care services and frontline jobs are a vital component of a council focused on the needs of their ratepayers.”
Mayor Kontelj said any cuts to CoGG’s in-home care services would be a result of state and federal government decisions.
“Council is answering the challenge set by the Minister for Local Government following the recent release of the Municipal Monitors’ report, which highlighted that council faces long-term financial sustainability challenges, with the need for structural reforms and medium-term fiscal constraints as a minimum,” he said.
“The requirement for council to consider the future of in-home community care services has been driven by the federal government’s aged care reforms, the first of which take effect from 1 July 2025.”
The proposal also led to a demonstration outside council offices at Wurriki Nyal on Tuesday, April 8, with approximately 100 protesters gathering to make their concerns known.
A picket line, formed at the entrance to the building, led to an interaction between picketers and Mayor Kontelj before police arrived to move protesters along.
A rally followed, held by ASU members with local MPs Christine Couzens, Ella George, Alison Marchant and federal candidate and ex-councillor Sarah Hathway in attendance.
The matter will be brought before the council again in May.
