Councils who can no longer ‘rort’ funding accused of shortchanging elderly residents in need

Councils have been accused of cutting back on services for elderly residents, all because of changes to a funding model that no longer allows them to “rort” the system.

Dean Hurlston from Ratepayers Victoria said it was disturbing.

He told Tom Elliott the federal government no longer provided “millions of dollars” up front to councils who applied, opting for a reimbursement model instead.

Mr Hurlston said councils had been able to profit off that funding, which was based on population and used for services like Meals On Wheels and in-home care.

“They’ve been banking millions of dollars they can’t bank anymore, so they don’t want to provide these services,” he said.

He said the blame lay squarely with councils, not the federal government who had looked to tidy-up the funding model.

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