Woollahra to continue the fight against amalgamations

BY CHARLOTTE GRIEVE

Woollahra Council has decided to appeal the judgement handed down by the Land and Environment Court last Wednesday, July 20.

The 104 page judgement dismissed the claim that the State Government failed to conduct a proper inquiry into the proposed merger of Woollahra, Waverley and Randwick Councils as required under the Local Government Act.

Greens MP David Schoebridge considered the judgement as a stain against the justice system.

“If that is the true state of the law then the entire public inquiry process can be a sham from start to finish” he said in a media statement.

Phil Jenkyn, a retired barrister and spokesperson for the Save Our Councils Coalition (SOCC), believes there are some “serious issues” with the judgement and there are “reasonable prospects for an appeal.”

Woollahra Council was the first of eleven municipal councils to launch legal action against the state government’s move to amalgamate local councils.

The decision to appeal has come amidst strong community support.

“The decision to appeal was made on the same basis as our original legal challenge. This is just a further way of demonstrating how serious we are about protecting the democratic rights of our community and serving their best interests” said the Mayor of Woollahra, Clr Toni Zelter.

Carolyn Corrigan from the SOCC claims they will “take it all the way to the High Court” if necessary.

There has been tension surrounding the legal costs involved in such extensive court action.

“We feel we have the community behind us. The costs of fighting will not outweigh the democratic and financial independence in the long term,” said Ms Corrigan.

Although it has been said that both Randwick and Waverley Councils supposedly support the proposed amalgamations, Ms Corrigan believes the tide of opinion is changing.

“When Randwick was gutted with the trees, and Bondi with the Pavilion, there has been a community-led shift and the councillors are responding to what the community wants” she said.

“There has been a lot of misinformation about the benefits of the forced amalgamations,” she said.

Woollahra Council and the SOCC remain confident that the appeal will be successful.

“We truly believe that justice will prevail and democracy will win in the end. It’s not easy fighting the State Government, this is a series challenge but we are confident that we will win” said Ms Corrigan.

Woollahra Council will be back in court as early as next Monday will a request for an appeal hearing date.