Councils re-affirm commitment to G21

ALL five of Geelong Regional Alliance’s (G21) member councils recently signed a new four-year Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the alliance.

Borough of Queenscliffe mayor Ross Ebbels, City of Greater Geelong mayor Stephanie Asher, Colac Otway Shire mayor Jason Schram, Golden Plains Shire mayor Owen Sharkey and Surf Coast Shire mayor Rose Hodge met with G21 chief executive officer Elaine Carbines and chair Bill Mithen on January 31 to re-affirm their commitment to the alliance.

Ms Carbines said the MOU helped ensure all parties were moving in the same direction.

“The MOU is a four-year agreement between the five councils and G21 to how we’re going to operate over those four years.”

“It sets out the obligations on G21, how we will work with the councils and also the funding commitment required from each of the councils.”

The funding asked of councils is proportionate to their population. The previous MOU saw the councils pledging $660,080 to the G21 for the year ending on June 30, 2020.

Holding almost three-quarters of the population in the alliance, $499,020 of this will come from the City of Greater Geelong. Conversely, as the smallest of the councils, the Borough of Queenscliffe will pay $6,798.

Ms Carbines said the new MOU was similar to the last but noted that the G21 negotiated with the councils to revise it each year.

She said being part of the alliance had undoubtedly benefitted councils.

“If I add up the last state and federal elections, plus the City Deal that we negotiated with the federal and state government, we’ve had close to $4 billion worth of commitments made to this region in the last 18 months to two years, and that’s unheralded.

“That’s because we’re incredibly well organised, we’re all on the same page, we’re working to really advance this region and to support the people that live in this region, and governments like working with a regional alliance with five councils working together rather than five individual municipalities.”

The MOU will become active when the existing one expires on July 1 and will see the councils committed until June 30, 2024.