This week, the City of Greater Geelong adopted its 2026–27 Budget. As a resident and ratepayer of the You Yangs Ward, I am disappointed by what this budget delivers for our community.
The City has committed $171.6 million in capital works across Greater Geelong this financial year. Yet when you look at the projects specifically identified for Lara and the You Yangs Ward, the total investment is approximately $1.27 million.
That's less than 1% of the entire capital works budget.
Figure 01 · 2026–27 capital works
Five named projects against the whole of the You Yangs Ward.
Those five projects alone total about $47.3 million — roughly 37 times what was identified for the whole of the You Yangs Ward. Each of them may well be a worthwhile project. That is not the point. The point is the distribution.
01 / The contextOne of the fastest-growing parts of Greater Geelong.
The You Yangs Ward is one of the fastest-growing areas in Greater Geelong. Lara, Little River, Batesford, Anakie, Lovely Banks and surrounding communities continue to welcome new families, support growing sporting clubs, and contribute significantly to the region's economy.
Yet once again, our community has been asked to wait.
What we're told
"There are future projects identified in later years of the budget."
What residents actually need
Infrastructure now. Roads, sporting facilities, community spaces, parks, safety improvements and services that keep pace with growth already happening.
Yes, there are future projects identified in later years of the budget. Yes, there are promises of future investment. But a growth area does not get to defer its growth. The families are already here. The clubs are already over capacity. The roads are already carrying the traffic.
02 / The consultationMany residents feel it didn't capture local priorities.
What makes this even more frustrating is that many residents felt the community consultation process failed to genuinely capture local priorities. Too many people feel their voices were not reflected in the final outcome.
That's a serious problem in its own right, separate from the dollar figures. Consultation that produces an outcome residents don't recognise isn't consultation — it's notification with extra steps. And it corrodes the willingness of people to participate next time, which makes the following year's process even less representative.
This isn't about personalities. It isn't about politics. It's about ensuring that every community receives fair consideration and a fair share of investment.— David Greenwood OAM
03 / Why this keeps happeningThe structural explanation.
I don't believe anyone sat around a table and decided to short-change Lara. Under-investment is almost never a decision — it's an accumulation. And there are structural reasons it accumulates in the same places.
Figure 02 · How a ward falls behind
Four mechanisms, none of them malicious.
No spend reported by ward
If capital and operating spend is never published per ward, a long-run pattern is invisible. You cannot argue about a disparity nobody measures.
Big projects crowd out small ones
One $24.7 million facility consumes the attention and the co-contribution capacity that fifteen smaller projects across other wards would have needed.
Rural and dispersed is harder to fund
A geographically large, lower-density ward generates fewer concentrated, photogenic projects — and grant programs reward concentration.
Exposure follows the chair
The wards whose issues get framed as "the city's priorities" tend to be the ones with the platform. That's the argument for rotating the mayoralty.
This is why I keep pushing for ward-level spend reporting. Under a rate cap the total is largely fixed, which makes distribution the whole game — and opacity about distribution isn't a minor governance gap.
04 / What I'm asking forThree specific things.
Figure 03 · The asks
Not more money in the abstract. These three.
The people of the You Yangs Ward deserve a strong voice around the Council table and a budget that reflects both our contribution to Greater Geelong and the challenges that come with being one of its fastest-growing communities.
Do you believe the You Yangs Ward received its fair share in this year's budget? I'd genuinely like to know — and more usefully, I'd like to know the specific project in your street or your club that keeps getting deferred. Named, located, costed asks are what get brought forward. Email david@centrestage.org.au with "Budget" in the subject.