VLGA’S NEXT ACT: FROM WOMEN’S CHAMPION TO NATIONAL REVENUE MACHINE

For years, the Victorian Local Governance Association has fought to define itself as the council sector’s gender equality champion.

That was the pitch. More women in council chambers. More support for women candidates. More training. More recognition. More government partnership. On its own, that is not a bad cause. Councils should reflect the communities they represent.

But the VLGA’s latest constitutional changes show something much bigger is now underway.

This is no longer just about Victorian councils. It is no longer just about women in local government. The VLGA is setting itself up to go national - and its own documents make clear that expansion is tied directly to money.

The organisation’s public women’s program says its vision is for women to make up 50 per cent of mayors and councillors, a goal it says is shared with the Victorian Government. It also promotes gender-based candidate training, the Local Women Leading Change program, and the Mary Rogers Awards for women in local government, delivered in partnership with the Victorian Government.   

In November 2024, after the 2024 council elections failed to reach gender parity, VLGA CEO Kathryn Arndt said the association had written to the Victorian Government seeking funding support for its gender equality work. The same statement said the VLGA had not received Victorian Government funding for that work that year and “can’t do it alone”.

Now look at the other side of the ledger.

The VLGA’s 2023–27 strategic plan says the organisation wanted to “develop and sell” a funding proposition to government, preserve and grow its Victorian council membership base, evolve into a national councillor support network by 2027, and scope a national fee-for-service, profit-for-purpose business arm.

That is not commentary. That is their plan.

The constitution has now caught up with the business model.

The 2021 constitution defined “Council” as a municipal council in Victoria. The 2026 version changes that definition to a municipal council in any Australian state or territory. It also changes “Councillor” to mean an elected member of a municipal council in any Australian state or territory.

That matters because the constitution says any “Council” is eligible to be a member council. Once “Council” is national, the VLGA’s potential membership base is national too.

The AGM notice was even more explicit. It said the constitutional change would allow the VLGA to diversify its income stream, respond to support requests from councils and councillors outside Victoria, and explore a national fee-for-service profit arm.

There it is.

Women’s representation helped give the VLGA a moral mission. National expansion gives it a bigger market.

The question for VIC councils is simple: what exactly are they paying for?

If Victorian councils are paying membership fees, are they funding direct support for their own councillors, or helping bankroll a national expansion strategy? If the VLGA wants to become a national councillor support network, why is it still operating under a Victorian brand? And if the argument is governance, transparency and accountability, why did the same constitutional package remove the old hard rule requiring ordinary Board meetings at least six times a year and replace it with a softer rule letting the Board decide how often, where and when it meets?

None of this means supporting women in local government is wrong. It is not.

But ratepayers are entitled to ask whether a publicly supported, council-funded sector body has drifted from advocacy into empire-building.

The VLGA started as a Victorian local democracy body. It then found a sharper public identity through women’s representation. Now, through quiet constitutional amendments, it has opened the door to a national operation, national clients, national fees and a bigger revenue base.

That is a major shift.

Councils should be asking whether they voted for that. Ratepayers should be asking whether they are paying for it - because all the funding for VLGA comes from Vic Councils from our rates and fees we pay our councils.