The Hon. (Mick) Michael Veitch, MLC, Councillor Cathy Sanderson, The Hon. Peter Primrose, Shadow Minister for Local Government with Harden Shire Mayor John Horton at the Harden Council Chambers on Wednesday afternoon.

Shadow Minister for Local Government Peter Primrose made a trip to the area this week to engage with local residents, Councillors, Mayors and General Managers regarding the forced amalgamation proposals advocated the New South Wales State Government. Primrose was at Harden yesterday, along with Mick Veitch, and used their one week break from Parliament to visit our area. “I said I would come and talk to people who have been in touch with me about issues affecting Harden unfairly as a consequence of the Baird Government’s decision,” said Primrose. “Harden and Cootamundra was a very sensible proposal for a voluntary amalgamation,” he said. “The Councillors were on side, the communities were on side. Then the Premier announced on December 18, without any consultation, all that wasn’t going to happen.”

Primrose said that the Opposition doesn’t feel obliged to support any of the work done by the Government because it is not backed up by the evidence. He cited the Government’s refusal to release the $400,000.00 KPMG report that is being used to justify its amalgamation proposals. “The Government released a ten-page document of assumptions. It has been torn to pieces by academics such as Professor [Brien] Dollery. It even used the wrong awards to calculate savings. “Some people have suggested that this may be contrary to the law for the Premier to be asking Councils to respond to his proposals without him making his evidence available to comment on,” said Primrose. One of those people was Gareth Ward, the Liberal Member for Kiama, who even questioned the legality of the process in his submission to the Delegate. “The Premier’s refused to release any background information to justify his decision. He just won’t release to the parliament. He won’t release it to the council and he won’t release it to the community. The community came up with the proposal, and it hasn’t been supported by the government,” he said.

He went on to say that if local communities such as Harden decided they would like to de-merge, such as communities in Queensland and Auckland have done, they would have to demonstrate solid community support, a good business case, and that it will have to go to the Boundaries Commission. He said that the Premier is arrogant by not releasing the information behind why he has overturned all the hard work that Cootamundra and Harden have done over the past few years. “This is about communities, and the community of Harden has made its choice,” said Primrose. “This isn’t about a Labor or Liberal Party fight, my message is that this is an argument involving communities that don’t want to be told what to do by Premier Baird.” He did have a message for Harden Shire Council: “I don’t think Harden Shire Council in any way shape or form should give up their campaign – they have done the right thing, and ticked all the boxes all the way along.”