You won't often see me suggest that you listen to Alan Jones, in this case, if you want to be informed about the real situation, I must insist that you do listen. Here Mr Jones speaks with Professor Brian Dollery. Prof Dollery is possibly the most qualified authority in this country with respect to Local Government amalgamation, financial stability, structural reform and sharing of services and he has advised and consulted for councils across all Australian states. - You could say he knows a little about this topic!
Professor Brian Dollery is a Professor working in the Business School of University of New England. This is his staff profile click here...
Please listen to the interview ... click here...
I call on the state government to halt this process and for an inquiry to be held into how the process could be botched so badly and I call for a bipartisan committee to be formed to re-examine the question of the structure and boundaries of local government in NSW.
We have a flawed process which is well underway and we have a community that is against amalgamation that is being ignored.
The information given to the community is insufficient and the method of imparting the information is clumsy at best. We should have the opportunity to have a Q & A style forum so that questions that arise from reports and government statements could be publicly addressed.
I ask the delegate Mr Rayner to use his capacity to order a public referendum on whether Gosford and Wyong should amalgamate.
This amalgamation proposal for Gosford and Wyong is neither requested nor required. Amalgamation has been a topic of discussion within the Central Coast for decades and if it was the will of the people it would have happened by now.
This proposal is flawed in many ways.
The NSW state government have been elected on a promise of “no forced amalgamations” and yet here we stand today.
The community consultation has already taken place (by Gosford City Council) and the firm message is no amalgamation shall proceed. This factor applies in many other locations. Kiama council found that 92% of folks reject amalgamation and yet they stand to be amalgamated with Shellharbour.
The KPMG report has become something akin to the Secret Volume of the Trade Union Royal Commission report. We are told that it is a very important document but we are only shown portions of it. How are we to make our submissions into this topic with less than the full information? The question must be asked why is there secrecy around the report??
Professor Brian Dollery. Professor, University of NE Business School tells us that the methods, assumptions and data used in the report are awash with errors. I hear that the awards used when calculating employee related costs were the wrong awards.
Therefore when we have a flawed report upon which this is based we will have a disastrous result.
We certainly have no chance of producing a submission relevant to the question of amalgamation without all the FACTS.
Our council here in Gosford had unanimously rejected the prospect of amalgamation. On June 19 2014 GCC put out a press release rejecting amalgamation and on June 30 2015 The Council rejected the idea in a unanimous vote in chambers.
What has happened since has been what might best be described as coercion. At the most recent council meeting where the amalgamation proposal was addressed some Councillors reversed their position resulting in an acceptance of the State Government proposal. Councillors that changed their vote regarding amalgamation have said that the reasons for changing are based in fear of threats made that would have the result of:-
1. Removal local councillors from the process of transition resulting in a loss of valuable local knowledge of our issues and history to the process.
2. Removal of an offer of financial assistance with the very costly business of amalgamation.
These people are our elected representatives. They should only be removed in circumstances where they are negligent in their duty or are found to be acting corruptly etc.
Assistance with financial cost from a government directive to amalgamate should not be held over us as a bribe.
These threats and this bribery constitute coercion in my opinion and this alone should be enough to halt the process.
It is worth mentioning here, that the motion that accepted the amalgamation had in the wording, "Council based on its understanding that continuing as a stand alone council is not acceptable to the NSW Government" The fact is that other councils that were the subject of amalgamation proposals have been permitted to continue as a stand alone entity.
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