Cr Leigh Dunscombe, Kinglake Ward

Murrindindi Shire’s own documents to last week’s Council meeting confirm that a $2.6 million loss is predicted for the 2017-18 financial year.

As reported in last week’s issue of The Local Paper, the ‘Council Plan’ predicts further losses, each of $½-million in the following two financial years.
Cr Dunscombe, Murrindindi Council’s representative for Kinglake Ward, launched an extraordinary attack on The Local Paper, which reproduced a report written by Shire officers.

Cr Dunscombe, giving his Corporate and Customer Services Portfolio report at the Shire meeting held at Alexandra on Wednesday night, said:
“As I predicted in my report in June, at least one sensationalist media organisation has indeed jumped on the Budget Update with grubby and misleading headlines,” Cr Dunscombe stated.

“Implying that the ‘adjustment’ of $2.2 million of Grants Commission revenue equates to a ‘loss’ is both disingenuous and deliberately misleading.
“They know very well that this adjustment is due to funds being received earlier than expected in the previous financial year and that the ‘blow out’ is fully offset by the previous years unexpected ‘surplus’,” Cr Dunscombe said.

“They know that this is just an accounting adjustment and not a decrease in Council’s financial position.
“In fact, Council’s balance sheet shows a slight increase in the level of funds held by Council, another fact that has been conveniently overlooked.
“They also know that a similar ‘adjustment’ will have to be made by all Victorian Councils’ (sic) for exactly the same reason.

“They know all this and they know that the big, bold full width headlines that predict a $2.6 million loss does not accurately represent the facts.
“They know it and choose to use it anyway. It’s an insult to the intelligence of their readers and an insult to the journalism profession in general.

“I find this blatant lack of journalistic integrity disappointing to say the very least. It does nothing to help unite our Councillors, officers and communities and instead deliberately tries to drive a wedge between them.
“I am pleased to report however that it seems to have had the opposite effect.

“It does nothing to inform, but rather seeks to instil fear, confusion and concern amongst our residents and ratepayers and promotes theories of conspiracy where none exist. These types of grubby attacks are not helpful to anyone and are designed solely to provide the illusion of relevance and help sell advertising space.

“Unfortunately it seems to work, so as long as people and businesses continue to support these types of publications I suppose we will have to get used to the notion that news does not necessarily mean accuracy or truth,” Cr Dunscombe.

‘Fake news’
similarity
Editor of The Local Paper, Ash Long, said: “It sounds as if Cr Dunscombe is trying to perform a poor man’s impersonation of Donald Trump by squealing ‘fake news’ when he sees a report that is not to his liking.”

“The Local Paper has reported on the words and figures from Council’s own Agenda papers.
Our headline ‘$2.6 Mil. Loss Tipped’ is entirely accurate. We have faithfully detailed the contents of the officer’s report to Council.

“Something similar happened at the old Yea Council in the 1980s when we truthfully reported on its finances.
“We attracted similar criticism from some Councillors of the day. We were proven correct, and we were awarded the statewide Westpac Award for ‘Best Local Reporting’ in Victoria,” Mr Long said.

“The Local Paper will not be bullied by Councillors, speaking under qualified privilege. This is a Council that will not even behave with the most common courtesy of replying to email enquiries by the press.

“We will redouble our efforts and scrutiny of elected representatives who seem to not want the public to know the truth that the Council is losing millions of dollars, and intends to keep running at a deficit,” Mr Long said.

“The Local Paper office phones have been running hot, and there have been non-stop emails from readers concerned about this out-of-touch, big spending Council,” Mr Long said.

KINGLAKE COUNCILLOR TAKES AIM
AT ‘THE LOCAL PAPER’

Kinglake Councillor Leigh Dunscombe has labelled The Local Paper as “grubby” and “sensationalist” after it reported last week on the Shire’s own prediction of a $2.6 million loss this financial year.

Cr Dunscombe said The Local Paper’s reporting was “disingenuous and deliberately misleading”.
Cr Dunscombe accused The Local Paper of demonstrating “a blatant lack of journalistic integrity”.
Cr Dunscombe accused The Local Paper of deliberately trying “to drive a wedge between” Councillors, officers and communities.

Ash Long, Editor of The Local Paper, said: “Unlike Murrindindi Council and its Councillors, we don’t have a Communications Department to create ‘spin’ around every topic.
“Unlike Cr Dunscombe, we do not enjoy qualified privilege, to say what we would like to say about his own performance over the past year as a Councillor.
“Cr Dunscombe and his colleague have put in black-and-white that they intend to run the Murrindindi Council budget at annual deficits of $500,000 for each of four years.

“Council officers have detailed in black-and-white that there will be a loss of at least $2.6 million this financial year.
“No family, business or Council can afford to run with financial losses every year.
“The public will see Cr Dunscombe’s attacks on The Local Paper as nothing more than a pathetic effort to avert the eye from Council’s ongoing financial losses.”

REPORT SUGGEST LOSS MAY
GROW TO $3.5 MILLION

A report to last week’s Murrindindi Council meeting suggests that the Shire’s deficit for 2017-18 may grow to $3.5 million.
“The change in the current year’s adopted deficit from ($536,000) to a deficit of ($3,550,000) should be understood with regard to the result of the previous year,” says an officer’s report to Councillors.
“The bulk of the variance relates to the advance payment of 2017-18 Victorian Grants Commission funding of $2,224,000 that was unexpectedly received in the last week of June 2017,” the report said.

EDITORIAL

Cr Leigh Dunscombe told last Wednesday’s meeting of Murrindindi Shire Council’s that The Local Paper’s headline predicting a $2.6 million loss “does not accurately represent the facts”.
The Shire’s predicted $2.6 million deficit is there in black-and-white in Council’s own documentation.

An officer’s report suggests that the deficit for 2017-18 may grow as high as $3.5 million.

These are the words and figures of the Council’s expert officers, not ours. The Local Paper has simply brought their words and figures to the public.
Our readers will see through Cr Dunscombe’s disingenuous attack on The Local Paper. The newspaper has obviously hit a raw nerve, with the exposure of the Council’s year’s 2017-18 deficit, and plans to have more $½-million annual deficits.
Cr Dunscombe tried to shoot the messenger. His little pop-gun backfired.

– Ash Long, Editor