By Luke Voogt
Geelong’s council has ranked second-worst in the state for unresolved complaints in the recently-released Victorian Ombudsman’s annual report.
Geelong ranked equal with City of Casey in eastern Melbourne, which is home to almost 70,000 more ratepayers.
Windermere ward councillor Anthony Aitken described the result as disappointing.
“It’s not a tag that sits comfortably with me – we’re the second-most complained-about council in Victoria,” he said.
Cr Aitken acknowledged Geelong had one of the highest populations of Victoria’s local government areas.
But the ombudsman received 115 complaints from ratepayers in Greater Geelong, 55 per cent more than from Wyndham City Council (74), which has a higher population.
“It does seem to be that Geelong is over-represented,” Cr Aitken said.
“You’ll always get complaints… but to have 50 per cent more than Wyndham (City Council) is a concern and we probably do have to try to address that.”
Cr Aitken called for the ombudsman to give a breakdown of the types of complaints received, a detail lacking in the report.
“I believe any feedback is actually an opportunity to improve, whether it’s good feedback or a complaint,” he said.
The Victorian Ombudsman heard unresolved complaints to councils where a ratepayer was “aggrieved enough” to take it to the next level, Cr Aitken said.
“Council receives over 1000 requests for services a year. I’d like to get an understanding of what the complaints (referred to the ombudsman) were.
“I do receive a lot of complaints about planning and I’m starting to receive a lot more complaints about local laws – in particular about dangerous dogs.”
Council legal services manager Rebecca Leonard said the number of complaints correlated with Geelong’s population size and was comparable to other large municipalities.
City of Greater Geelong was the second-biggest council in Victoria, she said.
“A number of the complaints progressed to the Victorian Ombudsman relate to standard regulatory matters such as planning and parking infringements.
“The City has not been advised to reconsider any of our decisions or actions relating to complaints made to the Victorian Ombudsman.”
