Following community and political backlash over a proposal to sell three early childhood centres, Council voted on 2 March to explore alternative solutions for the early childhood centres on Eildon Road, St  Kilda, Tennyson Street, Elwood, and The Avenue, Balaclava.  Potential solutions include upgrade/refurbishment, rebuilding, relocation, lease to own arrangements, community purchase and maximise State and Federal Government funding opportunities. The timeframe for the potential sale and settlement of the Eildon Road centres has also been extended from early 2023 to the end of 2023 to allow Council Officers to find alternative solutions. 

Port Phillip Council have been slammed by parents, state, and federal politicians over its plan to sell the centres because the centres are 100 years old and are not compliant with building codes and the Disability Discrimination Act.

Image of parent’s rally to protest planned childcare centre sales in Port Phillip (Source: Herald Sun) 

Council acknowledged the value provided by these centres to the community and will endeavour to minimise the uncertainty and disruption to the delivery of those services. Mayor Marcus Pearl said that “Council will ensure there are sufficient childcare and kindergarten places across Port Phillip”. 

The decision to sell the three centres was made after the Victorian Government advised Port Phillip by email that it was not eligible for state funding because of certain eligibility hurdles. After the issued blew up the state government has corrected their earlier advice and will accept an application for funding, but it was clear their earlier advice played a significant role in the Council’s decision making. 

Council is seeking to secure funding from the State and Federal Governments to upgrade the three Childcare Centres to be compliant with building standards, disability access requirements and other regulatory standards. Early childhood learning is the responsibility of the Victorian Government, and the state has $1.67 billion budget early learning. Refusal by the state government to fund upgrading the three centres would be seen as an attempt to cost shift to ratepayers. Cr Baxter noted “there are some politicians, sitting MPs who have been thundering at us that we need to do more but have yet to contribute a single cent”. 

Earlier in proceedings on 2 March, an alternative motion brought by Cr Crawford to guarantee the  three properties would not be sold was rejected by a majority of Councillors. Cr Clark objected to the alternative motion because a commitment by Council not to sell the properties would undermine Council’s ability to negotiate funding with state and federal governments. Cr Clark stated the alternative motion was “financially irresponsible if it undermines our ability to get state money”. Cr Clark also questioned Cr Crawford’s motivation for the alternative motion by saying “we should be under no misunderstanding that this (motion) is purely political as evidenced that this motion was put on Facebook this afternoon”. 

Campbell Spence, President of the Ratepayers of Port Phillip said that “we object to political interference from state and federal MPs who are forcing Port Phillip to fund the upgrades to these centres when the Victorian government has a responsibility to fund these centres”. 

Port Phillip Council should represent the whole community not political parties and they should ignore political interference from state and federal politicians. Port Phillip wants independent Councillors who support the needs of our community and who do not serve their political masters who seek political advantage in an election year.