THE timing of the state government’s decision to spare Hawkesbury Council from amalgamation has been questioned by Peter Primrose, the state shadow Minister for Local Government.
In December, the state government proposed to forcibly amalgamate the Hawkesbury and The Hills Shire Council, but in May backed down from that.
However, government Minister for Local Government Paul Toole made it quite clear that Hawkesbury was not out of the woods, and its Council boundaries could be looked at in the future.
Mr Primrose said he thought it was more than convenient that the three councils the federal government decided not to amalgamate, Hawkesbury, Kiama and Walcha, were in the federal seats of Macquarie, Gilmore and New England, which are all considered marginal and have sitting Liberal or National Party members.
“No one in this profession seriously believes that magically those three Councils have been picked out for reasons other than federal politics,” he said.
Garry West, appotined by the state government to pen a report on the Hills-Hawkesbury merger proposal, recommended that rather merge those Councils, a three way split of the Hawkesbury between Penrith, the Blue Mountains and The Hills was more sensible.
On May 12, Minister Toole said there was no question Hawkesbury Council’s long term future needed to be looked at.
“We know that the current boundaries of Hawkesbury City Council no longer serve the needs of the community and must be reviewed,” the Minister said.
Mr Primrose said he believed it was a matter of when, not if, the state government decided to go down the three-way split path.
“No one has come out from the government and said these councils are off the hook,” he said.
“They have used weasel words essentially saying they will look at something in the future.
“That is still the agenda. What is still in dispute at the moment is the time table. It is just nonsense to suggest it is off the agenda.”
Mr Primrose said there was no academic evidence anywhere to support the state government’s claims that amalgamated councils would deliver better services.
Mr Primrose pointed to a report released in October by Legislative Council General Purpose Standing Committee number six, which Mr Primrose and several Liberal members were on, which found the government had grossly exaggerated the savings of forced amalgamations.
“The studies always show that the merged councils...don't perform better than Councils that don't forcibly merge. There is no beneficial effect,” he said.
“There is just no financial evidence to justify or support the value of forced amalgamations.”
Labor candidate for Macquarie Susan Templeman echoed Mr Primrose’s comments.
“I see this as a short term reprieve from amalgamation, when in fact, what may now be the real agenda may be to slice and dice the Hawkesbury into three different areas,” she said.
“I would really urge people to read Mr Garry West's report because it is all in there in black and white.
“Right now people are operating under a false belief that everything is ok. But the report makes it clear that not having change is not an option.”