By Luke Voogt
Geelong council has canned $5 million plans to revamp the city’s floating Christmas tree and festive activities amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Councillors voted unanimously to postpone the plans on Tuesday night following a motion by councillor Eddy Kontelj, who hit back at MPs criticising the proposal earlier this week.
“The criticism of the council over this report was premature given we had not made any decision – it was merely listed on the agenda by officers,” he said.
The decision follows federal Corio MP Richard Marles and state Member for Western Victoria Andy Meddick labelling council “heartless” for discussing the plans weeks after standing down 576 employees.
But council had already planned to postpone the spend after Cr Kontelj “foreshadowed” the move at its previous meeting a fortnight ago, he said.
“It was well before the pollies took the opportunity for posturing,” he told the Independent on Wednesday.
“If they aren’t aware of how the process works, they need to educate themselves.”
The criticism was based on an officer report that council had requested in January, before the pandemic hit, scheduled for discussion in Tuesday night’s meeting.
The report proposed spending an extra $5 million on top of $3.4 million already budgeted for the Christmas program over four years.
The report proposed increasing the size of the floating tree, adding extra features and hiring a creative director to oversee the Christmas program.
While the proposal was “inappropriate” under current circumstances, considering such reports was council business, Cr Kontelj said.
“We cannot simply defer every report that officers put to us. This clearly is not the expectation of the community, nor is it in the best interests of the community.
“This said, it does not mean we will adopt every report or initiative that is presented in the chamber.”
But councillors reaffirmed their support of the 2020 Christmas in Geelong program – including the floating tree – subject to the future status of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In 2019 the program drew more than 352,000 visitors and injected an estimated $18.4 million into the local economy, according to City Hall.
Cr Kontelj had “no doubt” the Christmas program needed “enhancement and improvement” once the pandemic had abated.
“I think we’re all looking forward to a time where everything gets more normal where we can celebrate beautiful things in our lives like Christmas.”
