17/08/2025
Bio-regional councils with NO lending from Land Grabbing Bankers.
HOW MANY PEOPLE KNOW
all Council in Aust, NZ, UK, CAN, France…..
borrow from a SPECIAL LG FACILITY…..
with the bankers getting to SET THE RATES
when the Council inevitably can’t service the debt….
and another joy, the bankers get to SELL YOUR HOUSE
if you can’t pay the endlessly SKYROCKETING RATES.
THIS IS WHY COUNCIL NEED TO BE HANDED BACK TO THE STATE…. & then we start again from the bottom up,
with adequate State & Federal funding,
& coat savings yes,
& clean sweep all the corruption (& fully expose it)
The Great Council Cull: What If Victoria’s Minister for Local Government Pulled the Plug on Every Council?
It’s an idea that would send shockwaves through Spring Street and every town hall in the state — what if the Minister for Local Government simply shut down every council in Victoria and handed the entire portfolio to the state?
Sounds absurd? Not really. Under the Local Government Act 2020, councils exist at the pleasure of the state. One piece of legislation could dissolve them all, replace mayors with state-appointed administrators, and centralise every service currently managed by local government.
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The Money Grab – Billions on the Table
Local government in Victoria raises around $6.5 billion a year in rates and charges. Add another $1.5 billion in fees, fines, and developer contributions, and you have a neat $8 billion cash stream — currently trapped in 79 separate bureaucratic fiefdoms.
A state takeover could redirect that river of revenue into a centralised state account. Even without raising rates a cent, Treasury would have a guaranteed, politically “clean” income stream — a rare prize for any government.
The real jackpot for the state, however, comes from unlocking assets:
Property portfolios – councils own thousands of parcels of prime real estate, from depots to CBD office buildings. About $150 Billion worth.
Cash reserves & investments – many councils quietly sit on tens of millions in “future project funds” that could be swept into state coffers.
Fleet & equipment – every garbage truck, grader, and council car could be sold or redeployed.
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Contracting by the Block – From 79 Mini-Deals to a Few Mega-Tenders
A common excuse for keeping councils is that “local knowledge” is needed to deliver services. But the private sector already runs most of them in many municipalities.
By grouping municipalities into service zones — say 8 to 10 “super regions” — the state could contract waste, parks, road maintenance, and customer services on a bulk scale. Instead of 79 separate waste contracts, you’d have fewer than a dozen — with better leverage to squeeze suppliers on price.
The administration of planning approvals, pet registrations, and parking enforcement could be run from regional hubs, staffed by far fewer people, with modern IT replacing legacy council systems.
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The Bureaucracy Bloodletting
Victoria’s local government sector employs over 50,000 staff. A state-run model could cut that by at least a third overnight.
No duplicated HR, comms, or finance teams in every council.
One planning policy team instead of 79.
A single legal department instead of the battalions of in-house lawyers councils currently maintain.
The annual wages bill across Victorian councils is north of $5 billion. Even a modest 20% cut would save the state at least $1 billion a year.
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The Political Play
The risks? Enormous. Local councils, for all their inefficiency, still provide a layer of political insulation. When residents get angry about potholes or parking fines, they yell at the mayor — not the Premier. Remove that shield, and the rage goes straight to Spring Street.
But in pure cash and efficiency terms, it’s hard to argue that 79 separate HR managers, 79 separate communications teams, and 79 IT systems make sense in 2025. A single, streamlined state-led model would be leaner, cheaper, and far more controllable — if you ignore the democratic and local voice argument.
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Bottom line:
If the Victorian Government wanted to pull a “Great Council Cull”, it could create the biggest centralisation of power and money since the Kennett era. Billions in assets and annual cash flows would be up for grabs, the contracting market would become a feeding frenzy, and thousands of middle managers would suddenly be polishing their LinkedIn profiles.
We hear constant rumours that Councils continue to embarass and draw too much attention to themselves (allegedly according to Labor senior insiders).
The only question is — does the Minister have the political stomach to kill off 79 mayors and declare themselves Supreme Mayor of Victoria?
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A question for Jacinta and Nick perhaps?
