Thursday 21 November 2024
The Department of Government Services has conceded a key website designed to improve the transparency of local councils was a dud, describing it as “end of life” and “ageing”.
The website dubbed “Know Your Council” was very much the shopfront of local government, allowing interaction with the public, but in the words of the Department the platform was “retired”.
After being shut down on December 21, 2022, the website has only just resumed after an embarrassing blackout.
After setting a target of 160,000 visits to the site, only 64,000 Victorians visited it in 2022-23 due to the shutdown, leaving a gaping hole in the information on local council services available to the public.
The concessions by the Department were made at State Parliament’s Public Accounts and Estimates Committee hearing.
Shadow Minister for Local Government, Peter Walsh, said the under-performing website, was a blight on Labor, which should be fostering transparency at council level.
“It is ridiculous the Allan government is relying on a website as its shopfront for transparency, yet still missed its own target by a country mile because it was ageing and shut down,” Mr Walsh said.
“How can Victorians have any confidence in the government’s attempt to be open and transparent when they can’t even run a website.”
“Labor can’t manage money, can’t be transparent and Victorians are paying the price.”
Media contact: Dominic McDermott 0448 163 006 dominic.mcdermott@opposition.vic.gov.au