Outcome of BREAZE Review Request

On 20 February 2025, the City of Ballarat made a decision to terminate its City Partnership funding agreement with BREAZE, in accordance with its rights under the agreement. The basis for termination was that the BREAZE Board declined to appropriately address concerns raised by City of Ballarat regarding public statements made by one of its Board members, that City of Ballarat assessed as being antisemitic and discriminatory.

On BREAZE’s request, the City of Ballarat has conducted a review of the termination decision. As part of the review, the parties engaged in a dispute resolution process, as outlined in the funding agreement.  City of Ballarat officers met in good faith with BREAZE representatives on three occasions to seek a resolution to the matter.

BREAZE has recently advised the City of Ballarat that it now accepts the original termination decision and does not wish to progress the matter to the next step of the dispute resolution process - mediation, therefore ending the dispute resolution process outlined within the agreement. On that basis, the agreement remains terminated.  

Throughout this dispute resolution process, the City of Ballarat has refrained from making any public statements to ensure that it provides BREAZE with a fair and thorough review of the decision to terminate the funding agreement. Given the dispute is a contractual dispute both parties have had to keep all discussions confidential.  

The City of Ballarat acknowledges this has been a lengthy process and thanks the community for its patience while the review was being conducted. It was critical that all dispute resolution steps outlined in the agreement were followed to ensure that the City of Ballarat’s response to BREAZE’s request for a review was fair and comprehensive.  

The City of Ballarat remains committed to city partnerships that align with its vision of being a safe, sustainable, innovative and inclusive community. 

City of Ballarat Mayor, Councillor Tracey Hargreaves