COMMUNITY grants set to be distributed by Kingston Council in the next three years have survived proposed cuts, but new conditions have been applied to their recipients.
In February, Kingston Council resolved to review 10 festival and event community grants awarded by the previous council at their June 2024 meeting. A late amendment made last year to award a grant worth $75,000 over three years to the Druze Community Charity of Victoria had drawn criticism, as councillor Hadi Saab serves on its executive committee. Saab declared a conflict of interest before the June 2024 vote. Earlier this year Kingston councillors voted to refer the grants to the Local Government Inspectorate for investigation (“Bullying allegations aired at council meeting” The News 2/4/2025).
At last week’s public meeting councillors voted to continue providing the agreed three-year grant funding, although they have now stipulated that events run in years two and three must take place within the Kingston municipality. The Druze Community Charity of Victoria is based in Keysborough, which is within the Greater Dandenong municipality. Hadi Saab declared a conflict of interest and recused himself before last week’s vote. The News is not suggesting any wrongdoing by Saab or the Druze Community Charity of Victoria.
In their report on the matter, Kingston Council officers recommended that councillors proceed with the planned funding. “Three-year funding agreements have been signed between council and grants recipients, who rely on funding to deliver annual activities and events,” the report read. “There is an expectation that council will honour a three-year commitment, and failing to do so could negatively impact council’s reputation and relationships with community organisations. Additionally, this action could undermine the integrity of the Kingston Grants Program application, assessment, and decision-making processes. “Council’s legal team has identified some risks with any removal of existing funding to organisations in the CFECA grants stream.”
In response to community questions at a meeting last year, Kingston Council said that the Druze Community Charity of Victoria was eligible for the grant as at least 50 per cent of its members reside within Kingston.
Council officers presented councillors with multiple options to reduce the 10 grants awarded in June 2024 if they wished to proceed. If councillors decided to cut 100 percent of the funding to each community group in years two and three, it would have saved ratepayers roughly $250,000.
First published in the Chelsea Mordialloc Mentone News – 4 June 2025