Inner West mayors oppose forced amalgamations

Inner West mayors oppose forced amalgamations
Image: Ashfield Mayor Morris Mansour

Inner West mayors are uniting in condemnation of the possibility of merging council boundaries ahead of a report in March confirming whether forced local government amalgamations are recommended.

In the wake of NSW Local Government Minister Don Page’s announcement last December the current council structure is unsustainable, speculation continues to rage over the prospect of forced amalgamation.

Marrickville Mayor Victor Macri questioned the benefit of forced amalgamations, predicting mergers will only lead to the silencing of local voices and grassroot action.

“I think they really have to show the community what benefit there is in actually amalgamating councils as opposed to just saying ‘oh it’s going to be better’. I don’t have a report card on other councils but I know Marrickville Council is travelling quite well thanks to the great staff we have,” he said.

“One of the key impacts that no one can dispute is it’s a watering down of people’s voices because when you have one voice in 80,000 that carries a certain weight, but when you have one voice in say 400,000 it does water down their actual voice in the crowd.”

Premier Barry O’Farrell ruled out forced amalgamations in the prelude to his victory in the 2011 State Election.

Ashfield Mayor Morris Mansour said the Liberal Government had gone against their word.

“The government went to the last election promising there would be no forced amalgamation, and I would like them to stick to this promise and engage with the community with good faith to achieve a better outcome,” he said.

Leichhardt Mayor Darcy Byrne said it represented another in a long line of broken promises by the State Government.

“If the government pursued forced amalgamations it would be the next in a growing list of broken promises, which include returning planning power to local communities, no hunting in national parks and no coal seam gas licenses near water amplifiers,” he said.

“I do worry that forced amalgamations would just be a cover for privatisation of services that local communities depend on. There is a really good argument for improved resource sharing but the reality is councils across NSW already work together with all their procurement.”

If forced to choose a partner council, Mr Mansour said he would choose Burwood “because we share some boundaries”.

“But again this is after discussion and consultation with my community. The feedback I am getting from the community and from my colleagues is that they will fight it to the bitter end and obviously I will join them in this way.”

Piloted by Graham Sansom, the November 2012 interim review of the Independent Local Government Review Panel revealed the prospect of large population imbalances under the the current council structure. The review found that on 2036 projections, there would be large population imbalances in council areas ranging from 18,000 people to 481,000.

The Independent Local Government Review Panel is expected to reveal its recommendations in March.

Mr Macri speculated the synthesis may involve far more than just two councils.

“It could be six or eight councils merging,” he said. “We don’t know what they are thinking, what their intentions are. Do they want to go from 40-odd councils to 20? Do they want to go to 10?

“While it is still in the phase it is now, there is a lot of hysteria and a lot of second-guessing which doesn’t really help the situation. I think the State Government should come out and say what they are looking at.”

It has widely been speculated Leichhardt and Marrickville could face mergers, as is the case with Ashfield, Strathfield and Burwood.

 

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