Members of communities forcibly merged by the State Government are currently banding together and preparing to call on the NSW Upper House to support an inquiry into local government.
Some residents of Young, Harden and Boorowa and the surrounding villages are unhappy with the way the forced mergers across New South Wales have occurred and how their communities have since suffered.
Some of the issues community members are seeking for the inquiry to contain include:
* The extent to which any maladministration, corruption, flawed planning, lack of efficiency of Local Councils and coercion has occurred and the lack of due process under Administration and under Councils who were forcibly merged on May 12 2016.
* The Stronger Country Communities Funds and how they were allocated by MPs including cost benefit analysis on the projected outcomes of the projects and the role and process Councils played in providing recommendations to MPs. And the role in which Government advisors have played in determining recommendations.
* The influence of philanthropic or Not For Profit Charities and how they affect the decisions of Local Councils through their influence and through the influence of the business interests of their members.
* The Lack of governance, level of bullying and harassment currently within Local Councils and the physical and mental toll it has taken on employees of Councils, Councillors and communities including the attrition rate of staff.
Dozens of councils were sacked and 19 new ones created under the New South Wales government’s controversial amalgamations plan.
Each new council was to receive up to $10m to meet the costs of merging, while $15m was also to be set aside for new community infrastructure.
Baird told the Guardian on may 12 2016 “There have been many groups across the state that don’t want to see change,”
“[But] I think having smaller head offices and having more money that goes towards childcare, parks, sporting facilities, frontline services – I think that’s a great thing for the state,” he said.
Hilltops Councillor Matthew Stadtmiller said, “Baird was that far off the mark with what was and is actually being delivered it’s scary. His ideology and decisions will have an affect on generations to come and communities will suffer thanks to his personal crusade. Berejiklian won’t budge and has her head in the sand. I have people raising issues with me all the time regarding local government. If the State Government and their cronies won’t listen to communities, maybe the Upper House will. I support the Upper House inquiring in to the steaming mess that has become local government. This is what the Upper House is for, it is the house of review. It’s time they had a look in to the issues facing forcibly merged Councils. It’s a state wide issue”
The Legislative Council is the Upper House of the NSW Parliament. It is often called the ‘House of Review’ because of its role in scrutinising Government legislation and holding the Government to account. In addition to its legislative work, the Council also scrutinises the Government in other ways, such as the questioning of Ministers at Question Time, and through the active committee system.
The Upper House contains 12 Liberals and 5 Nationals which totals 17 Members.
Although the Upper House is yet to achieve much containing anything of significance this term. The Cross bench contains 14 labor, 3 Greens, 2 One Nation, 2 Animal Justice Party, 2 Shooters Fishers and Farmers Party, 1 Christian Democrat and an Independent which totals 25 Members.
