21 August 2024

 

THE decision to impose this Referendum on the Central Coast community was made by a former Administrator in 2021 without any credible rationale or adequately established consultation with our community.

 

Administrator Rik Hart has made his opinion on the referendum clear: reduce community representation to nine councillors (15.08.2024 - Central Coast website). Mr Hart is entitled to his opinion, which is at odds with the two major political parties and other candidates running for council.

 

Currently, each of our Councillors will represent 23,105 residents/ratepayers but if that former Administrator gets his wish, including the push by the current administrator Rik Hard, each Councillor will be required to represent the needs of 38,500 residents/ratepayers of the Central Coast. Consequently, we would be the most disadvantaged Local Government area in the entire state of NSW.

 

The Grapevine randomly telephoned a cross-section of the Central Coast community and asked them if they were in favour of reducing the the number of elected councillors that would represent them. The answer was a resounding NO!

 

Anne Craig said, "such an impost on our future Councillors would severely limit their ability to communicate, represent or consult with our community at all and will most certainly diminish our local democracy."

 

"It is impossible to believe there is a genuine or credible purpose to this proposition based on the facts of no adequate consultation and no demonstrated efficiency.

 

"What is possible to believe is that a reduced Council could easily be hijacked by small interest groups, without any regular accountability or transparency to the broader community.

 

"Our community would surrender oversight of outsourcing of jobs, sale of our assets and massive over development."

 

Ratepayers Choice lead candidate Kevin Brooks said that he had served on two UK Councils with 55 and 33 Councillors respectively, and that he could see no logical reason why a reduction from 15 to 9 Councillors would lead to better governance.

 

"Even with the current fifteen Councillors, Central Coast is already the fourth most under-represented Council in NSW," Mr Brooks said.

 

Godfrey Franz, president of The Liberal Party Central Coast Local Government Committee, has been reported as saying that his party will also support the status quo of fifteen councillors.

 

Mr Franz said the key reason was that councillor numbers were reduced from 20 to 15 when the two former council areas, Gosford and Wyong, were merged in 2016 to create the Central Coast Council.

 

He said evidence from the Public Inquiry into Central Coast Council in 2021 showed that ordinary councillors were overworked and relatively underpaid for their work, which he estimated to be about 20 hours a week.

 

"The new councillors would have a lot of work to do and nine councillors would give the public less access to them," said Mr Franz.

 

At the NSW State Labor Conference held at Sydney Town Hall in July, delegates endorsed resolutions from Central Coast Labor Party Branches supporting the retention of 15 councillors on Central Coast Council.

 

"The Labor Party will support the status quo on Central Coast Councillor numbers and not support the referendum to reduce councillor numbers on Central Coast Council," Member for The Entrance, David Mehan said.

 

“Less representation will mean minimal effective outcomes for the community. Our community deserves better, and given our growing population, the reduction in Councillors makes no logical sense.”

 

The referendum, to be held in conjunction with the 14 September Local Government Election, will ask Central Coast residents the following question: "Do you favour a reduction in the number of Central Coast Councillors from fifteen to nine?" This will result in three Wards with each Ward electing three Councillors."

 

To pass, the question would need to be supported by a majority of Central Coast electors.

 

Lack of democracy on the Central Coast has now been endured for too many years - reducing our local representation is not the answer for a democratic future!

 

Labor is supporting a NO Vote, the Liberals will support the existing councillor numbers, and the Greens and Ratepayers Choice are advocating to not reduce our elected representation.

 

It would be in the Central Coast’s best interests to maintain the status quo of fifteen councillors.

 

VOTE “NO” on Saturday 14 September.

SUBSCRIBE FOR FREE to the Grapevine News Online and to the monthly e-book edition of the Grapevine Community Weekly. Our online news platform and monthly newspaper is about real local news and events. We will not spam you or share your details with third parties.