Councillor Jenny McKinnon has put forward a notice of motion for WWCC to look into ways to support families during the ongoing cost-of-living crisis. Photo: Shri Gayathirie Rajen.
Returning Wagga Wagga City Councillor Jenny McKinnon has urged council to look outside the box for ways to support local families during the ongoing cost-of-living crisis.
Before Wagga Wagga City Council (WWCC) transitioned into caretaker mode during the build-up to the local government elections, Cr McKinnon submitted a notice of motion requesting ‘Council receive a report from staff outlining measures that council could take to relieve the cost-of-living pressures for residents’.
After speaking to residents in the lead-up to the election, Cr McKinnon said she spent a lot of her time listening to the struggles of families and the different challenges modern families faced.
“We know there are all sorts of stories about families having to choose between buying their medicine or food after they’ve paid their rent,” she said.
“Because of the way things have gone up, it’s cut into a large proportion of people’s income leaving very little left over for other essentials. We’re not talking about the desirables. We’re talking about the essentials that people can’t afford.
“My notice of motion is about just wanting the council to explore what options they could potentially do to release some of those stresses.”
Cr McKinnon provided a list of seven potential responses WWCC could consider:
- Extending the library opening hours
- Investigating if we can reintroduce the annual vouchers for free tip access, replacing the ‘bulky goods collection’ currently available
- Providing a big screen to provide free crowd access to important cultural and sporting events
- Making pool entry free for children during school holidays
- Encouraging providers to extend free pet desexing programs
- Extending support for free community sport and recreation initiatives, such as Park Run
- Providing free period products and sunscreen in public toilets.
Cr McKinnon said she understood certain ideas may not be feasible due to the council’s budget, but believed some decisions could be made with little to no cost.
“I do want to acknowledge the many things that council already does to provide free activities for the community, and we have several festivals and school holiday events that I think are brilliant,” she said.
“But on a day-to-day basis, I just think we could be potentially doing more now.”
She said we could apply for community-based grants or help provide a stage for some low-cost community events.
“There are some big sporting and cultural events that aren’t on free-to-air TV anymore. So providing a space for the community to gather and enjoy that without needing everyone to sign up for a subscription to a bunch of different streaming services seems like a very plausible thing to me.
“I look back to the Matildas’ incredible run in the World Cup a year or so ago, the whole community got around them and supported them. Is there a way we can do that for other teams or groups? I think so.”
Cr McKinnon also suggested providing free tip vouchers during each rate notice.
“I’m aware at least two other councils give two free vouchers to go to the tip with each rate notice,” she said.
“It means ratepayers can go to the tip on a day that suits them. Several years ago, they (WWCC) used to offer a couple of free tip days a year, the problem was there were queues from here to Kingdom Come trying to just get into the tip and use up that free tip offer. So that’s not a great situation.
“Vouchers where people can use it on a day that suits them. It could be any weekend for working people, or it could be through the week for others so it spreads out that load.”
The newly elected councillors will vote on whether WWCC should conduct a report during the first ordinary meeting of its new term on Monday 14 October.
Loading ...
