Some residents in Melbourne’s Darebin area have raised concerns over a recent council proposal to cut childcare and kindergarten leases down to two years from five and the council’s consideration of moving to a plant-based municipality.
Childcare uncertainty
Early learning centres have, up until now, worked under five-year leases, with an option for an additional five. At the October 23 council meeting, a motion was put forward for a two-year term.
The proposal, which would affect 18 childcare centres, was to “enable them to continue providing services beyond the current lease term, which expires at the end of December.”
The Darebin mayor Cr Julie Williams, said that the two years align with implementing a new leasing and licensing policy, which the council is developing separately and is expected to be consulted on and finalised during the next 12 months.
Cr Emily Dimitriadis, a Labor councillor, told Neos Kosmos that there is “community outrage, with over 50 people attending” the October 23 meeting and “over 80 questions about the leases alone.”
With the area’s growing population, Cr Dimitriadis said additional kindergarten capacity is required over the next ten…
