After City of Greater Geelong council announced on 2 April, it was considering handing its home care services over to specialist local providers, protests from the community, unions and members of State Parliament has delayed a final decision.
A Fair Work Commission meeting scheduled for today (Thursday 10 April 2025) for worker consultation on the proposed home care exit has been deferred until May to give workers more time to respond. In addition, four members of State Parliament Christine Couzens, Ella George, Alison Marchant, and Victoria's Minister for Regional Development Gayle Tierney also released a joint statement on Wednesday (2 April 2025) asking the Council not to support the council officers' recommendation.
“Every councillor should seriously consider the impact of this decision, they have a responsibility to not only these 300 workers but to approximately 3000 residents who will be impacted," they said in a joint statement.
“Aged care services and frontline jobs are a vital component of a council focused on the needs of their ratepayers.”
Australian Services Union Vic Tas (ASU Vic Tas), which orchestrated the FWC meeting, has also created a petition and sent emails to Councillors encouraging them to maintain home care service delivery. A protest outside council chambers was held on Tuesday (see main image).
Many Victorian councils have given up on delivering home care services ahead of the Support at Home reforms, which commence on 1 July 2025. Last week, we reported that Eurobodalla Council in NSW was getting out of home care after 30 years.
Only about one quarter of Victoria's local councils are estimated to still deliver in-home care.
