What’s the Council up to?
There has been considerable community interest in recent decisions of the Mornington Peninsula Shire Council, especially as there was limited consultation before they were made. Here are the facts as we understand them.
The 2025-26 budget is due to be adopted at a meeting on Tuesday, June 17, at the Rosebud council office.
Climate Emergency declaration and plan scrapped
On April 22, the council scrapped its climate emergency declaration and 10-year climate emergency plan after a 6-5 vote. The shire was among many councils to declare a climate emergency in 2019 and it was a unanimous decision at the time.
The motion to overturn the declaration was put forward by Deputy Mayor Paul Pingiaro (Tanti ward). Proposals that would have been eligible for support through the climate plan would now be subject to an itemised budget or council report. Pingiaro argued the council had failed to deliver “genuine value” after investing $11.7 million in climate-related initiatives in the past three years.
He said getting rid of the declaration and plan were not about denying climate change, but “ensuring that every dollar we spend delivers something tangible, measurable and real”. “Climate Action Grants and Subsidies” budgeted for $160,000 were cut to zero. Funding to volunteer group Repower, which helps locals switch from fossil fuels to renewable energy, was also removed from the draft budget.
Cr Michael Stephens (Warringine ward), who voted against the motion, said he was concerned as the climate declaration “was not just a simple symbolic gesture, it provided a road map”.
The council decision scraps the roadmap, a 10-year strategic plan outlining the Shire’s response to climate change including targets to reduce shire emissions, community energy savings programs, community grants and education sessions. The plan’s 2023-24 annual report estimated that “Shire climate action projects provided annual ratepayer savings of approximately $1.78m, with community energy savings equal to $4.82m. Greenhouse gas emissions have reduced 29% since the declaration of a Climate Emergency in 2019”.
Cr Stephens said requiring every climate action to come with its own separate budget report might sound financially responsible, “but in reality it creates a fragmentation, inefficient process…it makes it easier to delay, to defund and to quietly shelve vital projects without scrutiny,” he told the meeting.
Cr David Gill (Coolart Ward, which includes Shoreham) also voted against the motion, noting the council had been applauded for its efforts in addressing climate change, which in turn brought return on investment on projects such as energy efficient upgrades, solar uptake, having electric vehicle chargers, as well as emergency back-up systems installed at Red Hill and Balnarring. “It’s all about climate change and what we can do, and we should be doing everything we can because the return on investment increases year by year.”
Mayor Anthony Marsh (Briars ward) said the decision to overturn the climate emergency declaration “reflects a more outcomes-based approach to climate action”. “This is not about stepping away from climate responsibility. It is about stepping forward with a clearer focus,” he said.
Speaking to The Bolt Report on Sky News, Cr Marsh said “enough is enough” as he backed the decision to scrap "feel good" climate grants. He said community feedback had shown a desire for the council to focus on core infrastructure, including renewing community buildings and fixing drainage, and steer away from climate change.
“It's not to say climate change is unimportant, but it's definitely not ranking as a high priority across that feedback that we hear,” he said.
Protesting the cuts to arts projects. Photo credit: YANNI
Arts funding slashed
At a council meeting last month, there was a motion to accept the
draft financial performance statement for 2025-26 that was prepared by Shire officers. Deputy Mayor Paul Pingiaro proposed a number of changes to the draft. These included that funding for Performing Arts Development grants and Creative Fund grants be scrapped from the draft budget. Last year, these funds amounted to $480,000 and are proposed to be slashed to zero.
These competitive grants were available to individual creative practitioners and Pingiaro criticised some of the grant decisions, including funding to individual musicians to record albums. You can see the council grants here. Creatives would still be supported through funding to festivals and events, he said.
Local artists and groups have mounted protests against the proposed cuts and started a petition.
At the council meeting on May 6, a council officer was asked about the impact of the cuts. She said that “we wouldn’t be able to deliver all of the outcomes of the arts and culture strategy and there would be a reduction in overall arts and cultural offerings across the shire including contributions to individual artists in areas that attract tourism such as the Flinder Fringe Festival”.
While the Festival itself, for instance, would continue to receive funding, “all of the artists that deliver programs and activities that are on offer in the lead up or during the Fringe Festival…a significant number are funded through this grant program.”
Local artists and groups have mounted protests against the proposed cuts (see photo above from a May 20 council meeting) and started a petition. Founder of Music on the Hill Robin Griffiths has called for the council to reinstate funding that has directly supported local artists, including current TripleJ favourites Velvet Bloom and Floodlights, both of whom he said had received council grants to record breakthrough albums.
The recent Family and Allies event at Willum Warrain attracted 450 people.
Cuts to Willum Warrain
Willum Warrain Aboriginal Association is a not for profit organisation based in Hastings. It is managed by a 100% Aboriginal board and offers information and referral services, charitable support for disadvantaged Indigenous people, art and culture programs, two social enterprises (an
Indigenous plant nursery and cultural tours) and links between the Aboriginal community and the broader local community.
The council is proposing to cut a Willum Warrain Inclusion Subsidy of $103,500 and acknowledged that there had been no consultation about this decision.
The CEO of Willum Warrain, Peter Aldenhoven, told the SCA that there was “no inkling” the cut was coming and it would be “hard for us to absorb it”. The money was used to employ a community development officer who ran events such as school and community group visits, open days on Fridays, a Friends and Allies Day (which attracted 450 visitors recently) and Reconciliation and NAIDOC week events.
“To announce it without discussion just before Reconciliation week was not the behaviour of a friend to mob,” he said. If the cuts go ahead, activities and events would have to be curtailed, he said.
Aldenhoven said Willum Warrain had had a good relationship with the council, which helped set up the gathering place 11 years ago. “If you look at what we have achieved, it’s pretty substantial…it was previously a roadside dumpsite for 40 years.”
There are about 1900 Indigenous people living on the Peninsula, he said, with the largest group in Hastings.
The SCA is unaware of any comment from those who agree with the cut as to the explanation. There is a petition urging the council to reconsider.
Cr Patrick Binyon (Brockil ward) told the council meeting that “any funding cuts to a program that works culturally with youth, without considering the social impacts is a concern…the funding for that particular programme is obviously to engage our youth and as an educator myself, I find it concerning if we do cut something that is fundamental to indigenous people.”
Increased funding
The proposed cuts came alongside proposed increases in funding for road safety, emergency services and lifeguards and a boost to tourism centres. There is a new “commemorative events fund” of $150,000 to boost celebrations such as Australia Day and Anzac Day. “A lot of people said we've lost that sort of identity on Australia Day where we're not celebrating that as much,” Mayor Marsh told The Bolt Report.