By Ian McCall

President – Mt Buller Ratepayers Association

We all feel lucky to be able to experience our great mountain.

So it might seem inappropriate to call for better government support of Mt Buller, when our State Government budget is struggling to pay nurses and teachers well and is imposing unpopular new taxes like the Emergency Services Levy.

But the reality is that for far too long the Mt Buller community has been treated inequitably compared to every other community in Victoria and particularly when compared with other major tourism destinations.

The time has come for us to speak up and seek change.

All municipal councils and shires in the state qualify for Local Government Authority (“LGA”) funding, which typically accounts for 15-30% of the costs of local government. Our community does not qualify for this funding, because Mt Buller is governed by a statutory authority rather than an elected council. With an operating budget of approximately $20m for 2025, if Mt Buller were treated like any other LGA, we would receive between $3m and $6m in recurrent operating funding. This funding could be applied to improvements in services or lower service charges.

The situation is just as bad when we look at the current state of our municipal infrastructure.

We have received much appreciated grants in the past for capital improvements, like the Boggy Creek Reservoir.

But in the current environment, because we are not viewed as a ‘normal’ community by Government, our statutory authority, Alpine Resorts Victoria (ARV), must go cap-in- hand to other government departments to seek support for the things we need.

We do not doubt the good intentions of ARV, but they are a small statutory authority reporting to an enormous bureaucracy.

Our capital assets are deteriorating and this must change.

The lack of autonomy for ARV does not end with seeking funding.

We have been waiting years for the resolution of the water rights issue with Goulburn Murray Water, which means our summer and early season snowmaking water supply is still not secure despite people living as close as Saw Mill Estate having ready access to water all year round.

Even worse, we have to fund our own Medical Centre out of the service charges we pay because the State Government refuses to accept that the centre is the same as government funded Urgent Care facilities in Mansfield saving thousands of ambulance trips each year.

We ask the question; do members of the Mt Buller community and visitors to the resort not pay taxes like every other Australian?

We lack equity in access to public transport.

For people living and working on the mountain during winter, there are no affordable public transport options to get them to and from Mansfield or further afield.

Our Premier, Jacinta Allan, has declared that you can travel anywhere in Victoria for the same public transport fare, except Alpine Resorts.

To be clear, Victorian citizens can travel by public transport to Wye River on the Surf Coast, or Towong on the Murray River which, like Mt Buller, have highly season populations.

For some reason, seasonal residents of Mt Buller are treated differently.

We need a change in policy from the Victorian Department of Transport & Planning.

Finally, Mt Buller is by far the largest event based activity in the state, contributing $1.2billion annually to the state economy.

That is 4.5 times the contribution of the Australian F1 Grand Prix, which received direct operating funding from the taxpayer of $100.6m in 2023 alone.

The Australian Open generates approximately $566m per annum and has received over $1bn in government funding for upgrades to the Melbourne Park precinct.

While these may be laudable choices, the Government cannot find enough cash to pay for our Medical Centre or to provide sufficient shelter and toilet facilities for our hundreds of thousands of day visitors.

ARV was put in place three years ago to improve efficiency, service delivery and outcomes for our community and industry.

We believe ARV is well intentioned.

But it is clear that the Government, more broadly, is viewing Alpine communities and the Alpine tourism industry as a group that can be treated inequitably and/or ignored.

So, what has to change?

We need to see ARV supported by the Victorian Government and provided with both recurrent LGA style funding for municipal services and a transparent capital funding allocation to ensure our community infrastructure is maintained at a level to accommodate the growing demand for Mt Buller as a destination.

Beyond adequate funding, we need to have the Mt Buller community viewed the same as any other community in the state.

There would be uproar in other Victorian summer tourism communities if they were not provided equitable access to water, health services and public transport.

We at Mt Buller just need to be treated fairly.

Finally, we need a plan for Mt Buller that can be implemented.

We currently do not have a master plan that has any chance of being funded.

We need the equivalent of our local council, ARV, to get on with the job of creating a vision for the future of Mt Buller that will provide clarity and certainty for families and businesses to invest.

We are not asking for special treatment, we just want to be treated fairly like every other Victorian community.