Last Friday, representatives from Save Tumbarumba Shire (STS) group met with the Deputy Premier, John Barilaro, to discuss the forced council amalgamation and the state of Snowy Valleys Council. During what STS has described as “very cordial and frank discussions” with Mr Barilaro, he listened to the concerns of the group relating to the performance and attitudes of Snowy Valleys Council and the impacts, they believe, that these are having on the communities of the southern half of the council area. “We explained to the Deputy Premier that few in the community have any confidence at all in the Council or its general manager, and that almost every day a new and appalling example of SVC’s behaviour emerges,”
STS’s Dr Neil Hamilton said. “We no longer accept that SVC represents us or our communities as they have proved incapable of listening to our concerns.” “We were very pleasantly surprised at how well informed Mr Barilaro was about the current state of affairs, the determination and ongoing commitment of the Tumbarumba community, and the history of the forced amalgamation.” Dr Hamilton said the delegation had told the Deputy Premier that a valid proposal to demerge was currently sitting on the desk of the Minister for Local Government.
“We will meet with the Minister any time to explain our case,” he said. “It’s in our interests to work with the government to sort out this mess as our council clearly can’t do it.” According to STS, Mr Barilaro explained that he understood there was no ‘community of interest’ between Tumut and Tumbarumba, and that he thought the forced merger never made sense and should not have happened. Doug Gee from STS outlined several avenues available to the government that could successfully result in sustainable local governments for the Tumut and Tumbarumba regions.
“The first step, of course, is for the Minister to continue down the path initiated by Tumbarumba as defined in the Local Government Act and give notice that our proposal can proceed. Once that happens anything is possible,” Mr Gee said. STS reported that the Deputy Premier had offered to keep the lines of communication open and to facilitate other avenues of engagement to resolve the current impass. STS had also made their presence felt the day before, when around 30 orange-clad members attended SVC’s ordinary meeting held at the Tumbarumba Council Chambers.
