MORNINGTON Peninsula Shire is rebooting the way it delivers youth services, moving from an in-house approach to a new hybrid model which relies more on external providers.
The decision comes after a scheduled service review found low engagement levels and questions around whether council was best suited to deliver youth services directly. “The engagement’s low and there’s probably two reasons for that. One is maybe the service isn’t as good as it could be, and the other one is people just don’t know about it,” Mayor Anthony Marsh said.
“We absolutely acknowledge that there’s a role for council to play, but in the hybrid sense, in the fact that we are a connector and an enabler… but not necessarily employ the people and deliver [the services] ourselves.”
Under the rebooted approach, services will be contracted through expressions of interest made directly to the council. “People will have to express interest to deliver a particular service and then we will look at their capability, and obviously, costs will come into it, but it’s really about capability in whether they can do that better than we could,” Marsh said.
Not all services will be outsourced. One program, the L2P (Learners to Probationary) driver mentoring initiative, will stay in-house. “Our volunteers love it, our staff love it, and that’s something I think we actually deliver really well,” Marsh said. The program pairs young drivers with a mentor and a vehicle and is designed to help support those who don’t have access to a car or a supervising driver. Other initiatives, such as schoolies events, youth recognition awards, and mental health first aid training, are expected to be included in the new model.
One of the main challenges, however, is boosting awareness and spreading the word. “That’s not just youth services. I think that’s absolutely anything to do with council,” Marsh said. “Public awareness is always really hard.”
Marsh said schools play a large role in youth outreach. “I’ve got three young kids and they’re never going to interact with council services on a day-to-day basis, but we’re at school five times a week,” he said. “I think we could probably engage more with the schools.”
The underutilisation of investments such as the $14m Youth Hub, has also prompted reflection on the council’s delivery of youth services. “Utilisation of the hub is nowhere near where we hoped it would be,” Marsh said. As part of the service review, young people were consulted, and Marsh says they will continue to play a role in shaping youth services moving forward. “We always engage, and we should always engage,” he said.
No date has been set for any changes, but it will be an ongoing transition. “Council will continue to deliver services leading up to the transition. No immediate change,” Marsh said. He emphasised this new model is not focused on reducing costs but on creating more positive and beneficial outcomes for young people. “In this case, it’s very clear for the staff that they actually think this will be a better service.” “If it doesn’t work, council can always reconsider the approach,” Marsh said.
First published in the Mornington News – 7 October 2025
