While Council pushes to hear back from the community on the SRV, some groups remain unheard

Griffith City Council is in the middle of a huge push to get community response, but while some have turned out and made their voices heard at events like community opinion group meetings and the council cafes, there are plenty who remain unaware of the rate rises or are unclear on how they can be heard.

While Mayor Doug Curran said that the 'beauty' of events like the council cafe were that they couldn't cherry pick who to talk to in order to hear what they wanted, some were concerned that renters, pensioners and the disenfranchised are being potentially looked over - either unable to or not aware of the opportunities.

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Councillor Anne Napoli, who's been vocally against the rise, said she hoped to have a large-scale public meeting and advertise with letter drops.

"A letter drop and we should advertise in the paper. I still believe we should call for a public meeting ... The COG meetings, most people think it's for specific groups. If they don't use social media or listen to radio, they're left out," she said.

"Renters need to also know what an SRV means and how it will affect them. We need to hear both sides of the argument, for it and against it ... I believe the community has the power to affect change."

Renters, in particular, can be dismissed by some as not being impacted by rate increases, but the indirect response can affect them just as much.

Mark Dal Bon was worried about the impacts that raising commercial rates could have on everyone.

"The biggest thing is that landlords will not wear this. They will put it onto renters," he said.

"[Malls] will put it onto shop tenants, and then they'll pass it onto prices. This will cause inflation in the town."

He expressed similar concern that people were remaining entirely in the dark about it, and that Griffith City Council's communication strategies weren't working.

"End of the day, a lot of people still haven't been informed. The way it's been advertised is going completely over heads."

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