Council voted not to ask the Minister. The union asked anyway. Nobody thanked Cr Cains.
New to this issue?
This post is part of a series covering Kiama Council’s budget, the holiday parks proposal and the Performance Improvement Order. If you want the background before diving into the detail, the earlier posts are here:
- Council is counting on you not reading this – submission guide
- Ron Hoenig just put Kiama Council on notice. Here is what I said and why you should too.
Start there. Then come back here.
This is my reading of the public record. Happy to be corrected.
On 21 April 2026, Cr Mike Cains moved a motion that Kiama Council write to the Minister for Local Government asking three specific questions about the budget, including whether the cuts proposed in the draft budget were actually necessary.
Council voted 5 -3 to say no.
For: Brown, Cains, Tatrai
Against: Larkins, Lawton, Matters, McDonald, Warren absent from the vote Draisma
Three weeks later, the Minister answered the questions anyway. The cuts are no longer necessary. The community got an extension. Council didn’t ask for it. The union did.
And the community is still being asked to submit on the cuts-driven draft budget by Saturday 24 May.
Here’s what happened.
Cr Cains’ motion asked the Minister three things:
(a) Whether a failure by KMC to project a balanced budget in the 2026/2027 financial year would trigger the appointment of an administrator;
(b) Whether short-term deficit budgeting, if presented alongside a long-term financial sustainability strategy, is considered acceptable; and
(c) The extent to which KMC is expected to balance immediate fiscal constraints against maintaining essential services, community infrastructure, and economic activity.
The Minister has now answered all three. No, an administrator is not being appointed. Yes, staged deficit budgeting with a long-term strategy is the path. Yes, the impact on services matters and the deadline can move to accommodate it.
The questions Cains wanted Council to ask have all now been answered. Council just didn’t ask them.
Council had been through this exact process two years earlier.
At the same 21 April meeting, two letters from Minister Hoenig were tabled in front of councillors.
A letter dated 30 January 2024 – Hoenig’s Notice of Intention to Vary the existing PIO, sent to CEO Jane Stroud, giving Council 28 days to make submissions.
A letter dated 23 May 2024 Hoenig’s variation of the PIO, issued after Council had formally engaged and made its submission.
The 2024 correspondence is the exact playbook for getting a PIO variation. Council had it on the table on the night Cains moved his motion. Five councillors voted not to use it.
The union didn’t wait.
On 9 April 2026, the Illawarra Mercury reported the United Services Union had emailed its members confirming it was actively pursuing a meeting with the Minister to seek an extension. The email said:
“An extension will avoid the need for immediate cuts, since the losses can be drawn out which means the need to cut positions and services is less immediate.”
That’s two weeks before Cains moved his motion. The union had already identified the path. It was already walking it.
Council sent the cuts out for exhibition anyway.
At the same 21 April meeting where the Cains motion was lost, Council unanimously endorsed the cuts-driven draft budget for public exhibition.
The same meeting also noted, in a separate resolution about the Reflections unsolicited proposal for the holiday parks, that any proceeds “will be incorporated into the draft budget, resulting in the potential elimination of the budget deficit.”
So at the meeting where Council voted not to ask the Minister, Council also acknowledged the cuts might not even be necessary.
And then sent the cuts-driven budget out for public exhibition five days later.
14 May 2026.
3:25 PM Kiama MP Katelin McInerney issues a statement thanking the United Services Union, staff, community members and her petitioners.
4:26 PM Minister Hoenig announces the proposed PIO variation.
Late afternoon, Council “welcomes the extension.” The CEO thanks the United Services Union “for its strong collaboration and partnership in making the PIO request to Minister Hoenig.” The Mayor thanks the Minister for meeting with him at Parliament House.
Nobody thanked Cr Cains.
One more thing worth noting.
The minister also required council to strengthen its financial reporting to the Office of Local Government. Four years into a Performance Improvement Order. The community is entitled to ask what that means for the accuracy of the budget documents currently on exhibition.
What the record shows.
A councillor formally proposed the path. Council voted it down 5–3. The union pursued the same path externally. Our MP Katelin McInerney campaigned. The community wrote directly to the Minister. The extension came through. Council welcomed it.
The CEO publicly thanked the union that lobbied around her own draft budget.
The Mayor publicly thanked the Minister for the outcome he had voted three weeks earlier not to ask for.
The community is still being asked to submit on that now dead draft budget by Saturday 24 May.
The submission period should be extended. Full stop.
This is all your submission needs to say. Copy it. Send it.
“Given the Minister for Local Government proposed a variation to the Performance Improvement Order on 14 May 2026 extending the budget deadline by twelve months, I ask Council to pause the exhibition period, revise the draft budget to reflect the new timeline, and give the community adequate time to respond.”
Add your name and address. Send it to yoursay.kiama.nsw.gov.au and council@kiama.nsw.gov.au and councillors@kiama.nsw.gov.au before 24 May.
Step by step submission guide here
A note from me. I’m a community member trying my very best to make sense of this bombardment of information and what it means for our town and our families. If I’ve got something wrong, tell me and I’ll fix it. If I’ve got something right, send your submission before 24 May.