MLC enters battle to restore local democracy in NSW

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With less than a year to go before the next NSW Local Government Election, communities across the state continue to put up with the fallout from the failed council mergers of 2016 and the change of state government in March hasn’t delivered any of the promised solutions.

Greens MLC, Dr Amanda Cohn, is about to table a Bill that would amend the NSW Local Government Act to enable residents wishing to demerge their councils to hold a plebiscite.

Communities will then move forward with a demerger if the majority voted that way.

Her Bill is intended to hold the Minister accountable when residents support demergers.

Dr Cohn will be the keynote speaker at a state-wide Webinar to be held at 7pm on Wednesday, 15 November.

Residents in Sydney’s Inner West and Canterbury Bankstown local government areas along with Cootamundra-Gundagai have consistently supported reinstating their former council boundaries.

They have faced political stonewalling and cost-shifting that has made it impossible to reverse the forced mergers of 2016.

According to Cohn, communities across NSW have been “sounding alarm bells” about the catastrophic outcomes of the 2016 mergers but to no avail.

Residents and ratepayers in amalgamated local government areas have been subject to substantial rate increases, cost shifting, service cuts and protracted periods under administration with no elected representatives.

Whilst the forced mergers were the brain child of the former Coalition Government, the Minns Labor Government, despite a policy of giving communities a say through a plebiscite, has shown no political appetite to address any of the lingering problems.

Residents and ratepayers are fed up and want action. This issue will not go away.

The Restoring Local Democracy in NSW Webinar, hosted by The Point ESG News Site, the Demerge NSW Alliance and Central Coast Friends of Democracy, will include an expert panel of speakers: Brian Halstead from the Demerge NSW Alliance, Independent Councillors from Sydney’s Inner West – John Stamolis and Barbara Coorey from Canterbury Bankstown, along with Glen Moore, from Gundagai Council in Exile and Jane Smith, Central Coast Friends of Democracy.

Registration is free and attendees will be able to submit questions and participate in polls and surveys to capture their own experiences of local government failures in NSW.

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