A ‘cunning sleight of hand’
Last week the Grapevine reported on the NSW Government's De-amalgamation Bill, which was in passed Parliament last month, supposedly giving the councils the opportunity to bring back the status quo before the Baird-mega-council stuff-up. But the Grapevine can reveal that here’s a catch for councils and communities wanting to take up the opportunity to de-amalgamate.
Bob Graham, far right, presenting a de-merger alternative to the Minister for Local Government, Ron Hoenig and Member for The Entrance, David Mehan.
22 May 2024
ALAN HAYES
UNDER a ‘cunning sleight of hand’ councils will foot bill for de-amalgamation, which would then be passed back onto ratepayers – the cost to demerge is an unlikely scenario. Why? De-amalgamating larger councils could cost as much as $150 million!
So, the new legislation is nothing more than a cunning public relations exercise by the state government so that it looks good in the eyes of ratepayers by agreeing to allow de-amalgamations, while at the same time knowing councils cannot foot the bill to carry them out.
According to Green's spokesperson, Dr Amanda Cohn, the Government’s demerger legislation fails local communities across NSW who have campaigned for years to restore local democracy.
introduced the Local Government Amendment (De-amalgamation Plebiscites) Bill 2023 in November 2023. This bill would have enabled binding plebiscites to be held in relation to the de-amalgamation of local councils that would be funded by the state government.
The Greens moved amendments to that bill on 8 May 2024 to resolve problems that NSW Labor have raised with it or included in its own de-amalgamation bill. The government rejected the Greens’ bill despite those amendments.
The Greens moved amendments to the government’s bill today, including:
Dr Cohn said "“The Minister for Local Government says that he values local democracy and the importance of local government, but today he puts forward a bill that gives himself more power than councils and communities.
“Even after a council goes through producing business cases, Boundaries Commission analyses, and a referendum, the Minister still has the power to veto the community’s decision. Is this the type of local democracy that Ron Hoenig stands for?
“This is a slap in the face to local communities who have been campaigning tirelessly to restore local democracy for the past seven years.
“Rather than work with those communities and the cross-bench in good faith, the government’s undemocratic bill has been rammed through with the support of the Opposition who created the mess of forced council amalgamations in the first place."
Central Coast council, which has been under administration since 30 October 2020, was one of the entities formed as part of the Baird Liberal Government's program of forced amalgamation in 2016 via a merger of Gosford City and Wyong Shire. Its alleged financial woes put the case of demerger into the realms of another fantasy chapter of Alice in wonderland – once more down the ‘rabbit hole’.
But for residents of the Central Coast there is a solution to reducing the size of Central Coast Council, which is larger geographically than Canberra, according to ex Wyong Shire Council Mayor Bob Graham.
“We can’t unscramble the egg by going back to two LGA’s. It would be far too hard and costly, and we can’t expect this present State Government to pick up the bill for the mistakes of their predecessors, nor should the Ratepayers have to foot the bill,” said Mr Graham.
“But I believe that there is a way to rectify the mess that won’t be too costly for the Residents. We have to cut costs by shrinking the Council boundaries.”
Bob Graham proposes that we should sever off Gwandalyn and Summerland Point and pass them on to Lake Macquarie. Why? Because these residents are more aligned to Lake Macquarie than the Central Coast.
Secondly, Mooney Mooney should be passed over to Hornsby Council, and thirdly Spencer should be taken out of the Central Coast area and handed over to the Hawkesbury local government area.
Mr Graham also contends that fifteen councilors are far too many… “we should aim for quality rather than quantity.”
“At the last Council Election both the Labor Party and the Liberal Party were struggling to fill their ballot papers, Mr Graham said.
“We should have either seven or nine Councilors with a popularly elected Mayor and two Wards with three or four Councilors in each Ward. The Ward boundaries should be roughly aligned with the old Gosford and Wyong boundaries.”
Mr Graham also said that the Central Coast Water Board should remain owned by the ratepayers of the Central Coast, but the Water Board should be controlled by a separate body consisting of councilors and suitably qualified knowledgeable members either elected or appointed or a combination of both.
“My idea would take a lot of pressure off Council Staff by them not having to service far flung areas North, South and West, and would financially save a lot of money,” said Mr Graham.
Since Central Coast ratepayers have already paid the cost of forced amalgamations through inefficiency, cuts to local services, weakened local democracy and the no democracy, Bob Graham’s solution may be a feasible solution.