Background

This year the EcoCentre opened its new premises located in the St Kilda Botanical Gardens on Blessington Street. The new high-quality, environmentally designed facility was jointly funded by the City of Port Phillip and the Victorian Government. The total sum of this investment was approximately $6 million. The CoPP share of that investment initially in establishment, was $3 million.

Lease

In early 2024 a lease was established between the CoPP and the EcoCentre on the following key terms:

• Length of lease – 15 years.
• Rent – commencing at $104.00 per annum exclusive of GST.
• The tenant to be responsible for a schedule of maintenance and for all utilities and outgoings associated with the operation of their service.

At that Council Meeting, one Councillor argued for a 20-year lease at $104.00 per annum but in the end the pepper corn rental charge was settled at $104.00 per annum for 15 years.

Support for the EcoCentre in 2025 from CoPP.

The CoPP also funds the EcoCentre annually through grant funding. For the 2024-2025 year the amount was $390,000 or 23% of total revenue.  A history of payments from the City of Port Phillip going back to 2018 is seen in the following:

 

Year	Amount
2025	$390,098
2024	$229,098
2023	$349,661
2022	$347,788
2021	$317,181
2020	$324,000
2019	$260,210
2018	$228,894

 

In cash and kind, assuming a rental yield of 6.5% net of costs, the total “derived” support for 2025 is:

Rent (In kind)                                 $195,000

Direct Financial Support            $390,000

Support to the EcoCentre          $585,000

The EcoCentre Financials 2025

The EcoCentre financials for 2024-2025 show interest income on investment of $59,450, A more detailed look into the financials obtained on the Consumer affairs website show current assets in excess of $2 million. Current assets usually comprise term deposits and cash with maturities under 12 months. The EcoCentre in its Financial Report further note a large legacy received. The website also encourages donations and fund raising through the “Giving Circle.” This should be applauded as Not for Profits should entice funding from a broad source including bequests, consultancy arrangement, memberships and seminars. That is the entrepreneurial approach to funding.

Having said this, current funding level by the Council to the EcoCentre is an inefficient use of ratepayer monies with the Centre’s strong balance sheet. The City of Port Phillip does not have a mandate to assist NGO’s in becoming wealthy organisations.

Politics Plays a Part in the Funding

A group of past and current greens left Councillors have links to the EcoCentre. The EcoCentre supporters generally forms part of Councillor “voting blocs” and are also useful when needing a quick petition signed or a large turnout at Council nights to support certain agendas. Pork barrelling is not new in public life and while the EcoCentre has admirable objectives, it also is a cubby house to a certain clique of fellow travellers. Sadly, the EcoCentre appears to have links to the far-left Port Phillip Climate Emergency Action Network (Pecan), Progressive Port Phillip and the radical Extinction Rebellion. They also appear to have informal links to some of our Councillors and Council Officers. As the former Councillor Andrew Bond stated:

“There should be no place for disruptive groups such as Extinction Rebellion in a council owned and funded building and organisation such as the Port Phillip EcoCentre.”

Similar sentiments were expressed by former Councillor Marcus Pearl.

CoPP Budget Support Moving Forward

Anyone who has witnessed a council meeting near budget time will see a conga line of EcoCentre staff and supporters seeking further, if not greater, annual funding. In an environment of increasingly competing funding needs in the CoPP, the EcoCentre has had more than enough rate payer support over the years and should now take even greater ownership of their funding. That is, the Council should not be treated as their annual ATM! Especially when they have current assets in excess of $2 million!

Mornington Peninsula Shire Leads the Way in a New Approach to Environment Funding.

The Mornington Shire in 2025 passed a motion that sought greater accountability to Council environmental projects by ensuring that projects supporting the emergency plan would now be subject to an itemised budget or council report. Importantly the motion was about

• Accountability of ratepayer funds and
• Ensuring “genuine” value.

It was also stressed that the motion was in no way was a denial of climate change.

As one Councillor succinctly stated:

“It’s about facing a fiscal reality and ensuring our climate response delivers actual value, not just rhetoric”

Two examples were mentioned of failed activity within the Mornington Shire.

• $534,000 spent on an urban forest strategy which had not resulted in more trees being planted and
• While $11.7 million had been spent in climate related initiatives over the previous three years had failed to deliver genuine value but had expended $4.1 million in wages!

What Can the City of Port Phillip Take Away from This?

The issue with current climate emergency initiatives funded by the City of Port Phillip is that there is:

• Lack of rigorous benchmarks on projects undertaken,
• Failure to enunciate and deliver detailed reports to the community on actions undertaken,
• Lack of rigour in cost benefit analysis,
• Disproportionate amount of rate payer money being expended on consultant reports and salary and wages.

Conclusion

In my view Councillors should call for an independent and comprehensive review to be undertaken by an auditor firm or change management specialists to examine:

• All current climate related projects within the City of Port Phillip, with detailed cost benefit analysis including measurable outputs;
• A review of any associations, memberships or organisational funding that the City of Port Phillip may subscribe to in the environmental space;
• A shift in emphasis to more practical and viable local community projects, and;
• A five-year history and dissection of expenditure on all CoPP funded in-part or in-whole environmental projects within the City of Port Phillip,

Such a review must ensure ratepayer value and accountability for money spent on climate change and environmental initiatives. It in no way is a rejection of climate change or environmental responsibility.

Further:

With regard to the EcoCentre and in consideration of the:

• amount spent to date in actual direct financial support by the City of Port Phillip,
• growing strength of the balance sheet of the EcoCentre through alternative funding means including donations and bequests,
• ongoing in-kind support to the EcoCentre through a pepper corn rent of $104 with a lease period of 15 years by the City of Port Phillip which included:
  • the initial investment of $3 million in the development of a new premises,

we propose that the EcoCentre  be requested to develop a five-year plan to become self-sufficient of the City of Port Phillip in terms of direct financial support.

Further, in consideration of the large amount of current assets currently on the EcoCentre balance sheet, five-year funding for the EcoCentre for the period 2026-30 be capped at 50% of 2025 funding levels at $195,000 per annum.