03/05/2026
Parents at Dunolly Primary School are now pleading for something no parent should have to beg for – basic safety outside their child’s school. 💔
The school crossing supervisor outside Dunolly Primary was axed at the end of the 2025 school year, leaving families frightened that it is only a matter of time before a child is hit.
In an interview with ABC Central Victoria, mother-of-three and CFA member Karina Carless revealed she dreads the day a child is killed crossing the road outside the school.
That is not political spin. That is a local mum imagining the worst possible phone call, the worst possible scene, and the worst possible job for emergency services – because a supervised school crossing has been cut.
Central Goldfields Shire Council is trying to save $3.2 million in the next financial year, with cuts including closing tips in outlying towns and reducing labour costs. But for Dunolly families, the brutal reality is simple.
When the council cannot balance the books, when the budget is under pressure, when debt and cost-cutting come knocking, essential community services are the first things placed on the chopping block. This time, child safety has been cut.
Parents say the official figure that only four students use the Dunolly crossing each day is no longer accurate, with Dunolly Primary School’s enrolments growing to 87 students, up from 79 last year.
They also say the road conditions are dangerous, with heavy traffic, harvest-season trucks, and a crest near the school zone creating what they fear is a tragedy waiting to happen.
Parent Megan Redpath put it bluntly. “Ideally, nobody wants to be scraping a kid off the road,” she said.
That line should stop every councillor, executive, department officer and budget-wrangler in their tracks. Because this is not about a luxury project.
It is not about glossy council branding, feel-good announcements, consultants, slogans, strategy documents, or whatever other shiny nonsense gets wheeled out when councils want to look busy. It is about children crossing the road safely.
And this is not the first time Central Goldfields Shire Council has found itself cutting services while the community is told to pay more.
Ratepayers are constantly squeezed, rates keep being pushed upward, and locals are expected to cough up more while basic services keep disappearing.
On top of that, councils are now being used as tax collectors for the Victorian Labor Government through the Emergency Services and Volunteers Fund, leaving councils to grab another deeply unpopular charge from households already under pressure.
So residents are paying more, being taxed more, and still watching services get cut. Tips are being cut. Labour is being cut. And now a school crossing supervisor is gone. That is the part that stings.
Because when communities pay rates, they are not doing it for glossy Facebook posts or council self-promotion. They are paying for roads, rubbish, safety, services, facilities, and the everyday basics that actually matter.
The Councillor for Central Goldfields Shire's Flynn Ward, which includes Dunolly, is Councillor Liesbeth Long.
Credit where it is due. Liesbeth does use her page to share local news, information, events, and issues – unlike some of her colleagues, who seem far less interested in engaging with the communities they are supposed to represent.
But at the time of writing, she does not appear to have posted about this issue. The Council itself has also not made a public Facebook post about the axed Dunolly school crossing supervisor.
That silence matters. Because council is very comfortable using its page for positive stories, polished announcements and carefully managed posts that paint it in a good light.
But when parents are frightened their children could be hit by traffic outside a school, the community deserves more than silence.
It deserves answers. It deserves transparency. It deserves councillors willing to front up, not just when there is a ribbon to cut or a nice photo opportunity to post.
And it deserves a council that does not delete community criticism from its Facebook posts while expecting the same community to keep paying more for less.
Dunolly parents are not asking for the moon. They are not asking for some gold-plated mega-project. They are asking for someone to stand at a school crossing and help children get across the road safely.
If a council cannot find a way to protect kids outside a primary school, people are entitled to ask what the money is actually being spent on. 💔
UPDATE: Following publication, Cr Liesbeth Long, has advised she previously addressed this issue in her column in Dunolly's Welcome Record (19 November 2025).
She also attended a Dunolly School Council meeting on 17 November 2025 with council officers, and raised the matter directly with the Department of Transport and Planning.
We acknowledge and appreciate this clarification, and thank her for the time and effort she has put into raising and advocating on this issue across multiple levels.
In hindsight, The Dunolly Daily could have been more diligent in identifying that earlier coverage, beyond the lack of a Facebook post, so it didn't appear as if conclusions were being drawn.
We encourage everyone to view her comment below for full context and a clearer understanding of the work that has been undertaken behind the scenes.
