A proposed four-year plan to revamp Geelong’s Christmas program will not go ahead in 2020. In response to a report brought to the council by staff, councillors unanimously agreed the current focus must be on supporting the community through the coronavirus crisis.
During Tuesday night’s meeting councillors considered a staff report, Christmas City Program – A Review, Vision & Business Plan, which was commissioned in January before the pandemic took hold.
The report set a vision of cementing Geelong as ‘Australia’s Christmas City’ by 2023.
It outlined a series of ideas to ‘strengthen and reinvigorate’ the already highly successful Christmas program over the next four years, including:
- Hiring a Creative Director, Festival Operations and Business Development Officer to oversee the expanded program, including developing a yearly theme;
- Moving the floating Christmas tree to a new position in front of Steampacket Gardens, increasing its size, and adding extra features including a stage for live performances;
- Creating a Christmas festival in Steampacket Gardens including a ‘summergarden’, markets, live performances and aerial displays every Friday night; and
- Increasing activities across the region, including a new grants program for members of the community to stage presentations/events.
The cost to implement all of the planned initiatives was estimated at an extra $1.1 million per year over four years.
Councillors unanimously agreed it would not be appropriate to invest in any of the new initiatives this year.
Instead of adopting the report, the council supported an amendment moved by Cr Eddy Kontelj to ‘note’ the report and request that the recommendations be brought back to the chamber in February 2021 for consideration in future budgets.
Councillors did however affirm their support for the 2020 Christmas in Geelong program – including the floating tree – subject to the status of COVID-19 social distancing restrictions.
In 2019 the program drew more than 352,000 visitors and injected an estimated $18.4 million into the local economy.
Since the introduction of the floating tree in 2014, the Christmas program has now produced total attendances of around 1.6 million and an economic output of more than $100 million.
Mayor Stephanie Asher:
The floating tree has been amazing for Geelong since its introduction in 2014, but in the current circumstances an expansion of the Christmas program simply can’t be a funding priority. The best course of action was to put it on hold and reconsider the proposal next year when, hopefully, we’ll be in recovery mode.
I am glad the council has reaffirmed its support of this year’s program going ahead depending on restrictions being lifted by then. At times of crisis it’s important to provide hope wherever possible and the stunning Geelong Christmas program is something our community always looks forward to every year.
Councillor Eddy Kontelj:
The criticism of the council over this report was premature given we had not made any decision – it was merely listed on the agenda by officers. In the future, there will be many reports presented to councillors to consider, which may seem inappropriate at the time, however, council business is to consider these and deal with them accordingly. We cannot simply defer every report that officers put to us. This clearly is not the expectation of the community, nor is it in the best interests of the community. Every report we deal with results in the employment of council staff….it’s council business. This said, it does not mean we will adopt every report or initiative that is presented in the chamber.
At the moment, we as councillors are very aware that the focus of council must be to prioritise dealing with the challenges of COVID-19, and as such, our decision last night was to note the Christmas Program report and request the CEO to bring it back to us for careful consideration in February 2021.
There is no doubt that our Christmas program is in need of enhancement and improvement, and when we finally address this, in whatever manner that is, it will be beneficial for the community and visitors to this great city, as the Christmas program has been in the past. I’m sure we are all looking forward to returning to a time that is more normal and we can celebrate Christmas as we have in the past, with joy and love. However for now, it’s a matter of priorities, and our priority right now is keeping our community as safe and secure as possible.
