By Laura Wakely
THE GOVERNMENT has backflipped on a decision to cut $5.7 million from libraries and has announced an injection of $6.5 million instead.
Local Government Minister Jeanette Powell said the Government would allocate $6.5 million to Victorian libraries over three years and fund a review of library services.
The announcement comes after the Government faced a backlash from councils and communities over a plan to cut library funding by $5.7 million over four years.
Ms Powell said the Coalition had heard community concerns.
“We have listened carefully to the views of library corporations, councils, the Municipal Association of Victoria (MAV), parliamentary colleagues and the wider community,” Ms Powell said.
“We have been working together in good faith to address funding issues and establish a bipartisan Libraries Ministerial Advisory Committee to ensure we can deliver a modern, vibrant and effective library service into the future.”
She said councils and libraries would be sent a new funding agreement for 20112012 and 20122013 that would ensure no library receives less funding than they had the previous year.
Shadow Local Government Minister Richard Wynne called the Government’s funding reversal a “major embarrassment”.
“Ms Powell was silenced by a passionate community campaign, and if she tries to shortchange our libraries again, she will meet the same fierce resistance,” Mr Wynne said.
“There are still worrying signs as Ms Powell used today’s backflip to unveil yet another review, clearly with the intention of delaying the cut to library funding until 2014.”
Hobsons Bay Mayor Cr Michael Raffoul said he was pleased the government had restored recurrent funding levels for the state’s libraries in the 2011-2012 year.
“We welcome the reversing of the decision to cut funding and the announcement of additional funding next year to compensate for the loss of an indexed increase in 2011-2012,” he said.
