By BRIDGET COOK
THE City of Casey has attacked Cranbourne’s MP over a postcard he sent to the electorate criticising the council for what he said was misspending.
Cranbourne MP Jude Perera sent a postcard to each registered voter in his electorate urging them to sign it and send to the Premier, claiming that ‘Casey council should spend our money on us’.
The postcard criticises local government for wasting money and, in particular, Casey for hiring an Arnold Schwarzenegger impersonator to promote the Casey Cultural Precinct at a cost of $950.
The postcard promotes Labor’s proposed policy announced this month to force councils to cap their rates at the Consumer Price Index (CPI) and justify any further increases.
The council has hit back at Mr Perera this week, saying he was poorly informed about the facts.
Mr Perera said rather than attack him for standing up for Casey ratepayers, the council should be looking at ways to cut costs.
“I will not step back from standing up for ratepayers particularly from a council that spent ratepayer’s money on celebrity impersonators,” he said.
Councillor Sam Aziz said the attack was a bit rich coming from Mr Perera, who was a member of the Bracks and Brumby government which wasted billions of dollars on an unused desalination plant and was responsible for the Myki transport ticketing system.
“Two clear examples of wasting not just thousands, or even millions of dollars, but billions of dollars,” he said.
Cr Aziz said while the council does not have a formal position on Labor’s proposal to cap rates, the council supported the advocacy undertaken by the Municipal Association of Victoria and the Victorian Local Governance Association against this proposal.
“These positions point out that in an environment of costs rising faster than CPI, cost-shifting from state and federal government to local government and freezing of the Federal Grants Commission funds to local government for the next three years at the 2013 level, the financial sustainability of local government needs rate increases higher than CPI,” he said.
“The proposal to cap rates is a populist and poorly researched policy position designed to appeal to the hip-pocket of voters.
“The inclusion of reference to council’s promotional methods for the proposed fantastic new community multi-use community, cultural and civic precinct is a poor attempt to characterise as waste an entertaining video that cost only $950 to produce.”
Councillor Wayne Smith said it was not unusual for projects of the Casey Cultural Precinct’s size to engage high-profile ambassadors to assist with advocacy and increase awareness.
“Council is responsibly and entertainingly promoting the best arts and theatre complex which will be developed in Melbourne’s south-east and which will be used by theatre groups and numerous schools for school productions and speech nights instead of having to travel outside the municipality to more distant locations,” he said.
“Mr Perera needs to understand the needs of the community better and also to understand that promotion of such a complex will actually enhance the financial operation of the complex.”
