Local councils too often veer between crazy extravagances and mindless austerities, at the community’s expense

Amid a cost-of-living crisis, what could be more important than a place where people from young to old can find connection and much more. Photograph: kali9/Getty Images. Posed by models

Tuesday: not a good night for Victorians, as they got the bill for all of Dan Andrews’ hard-hat photo ops. But down the highway, in my beloved home town of Geelong, there was a political spectacle in many ways just as damning.

It was a meeting of the council of the City of Greater Geelong, to which I, among some hundreds of interested residents, was drawn on account of sudden and deep budget cuts to the city’s excellent, extensive and heavily used library service.