Whether you agree or disagree with the amalgamation of Great Lakes, Gloucester and Greater Taree into one super council, residents would have to question the way the State government went about it.
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And, they have every legitimate reason to be angry, and confused.
The NSW Government didn’t even have the common courtesy to let elected mayors and councillors know about their decision before the rumour
Many councillors learned of their fate during the ABC's Radio morning program.
It beggars the question, why did the government take this route?
They’d have to live under the proverbial rock to think local governments and their ratepayers would take this news lying down.
What’s the government’s motive? Cost savings.
How much did it cost councils to put their cases to the government, when it clearly had already made up its mind. And, why did the government renege on IPART’s finding that Great Lakes Council was fit for the future.
Whatever happened to a pledge made by former Liberal Party (one-time) opposition leader Barry O’Farrell and his deputy, National Party leader Andrew Stoner, that amalgamations would be a mutual agreement between his elected government and councils. Clearly Mr O’Farrell forgot to send that memo to the incumbent Mike Baird.
In a poll conducted by Fairfax Media asking readers if they agreed with the amalgamation, 80 per cent said no, and the remainder said it was a good idea.
This poll seems to differ from what administrator John Turner says, that the protesters were a vocal minority.
Who should ratepayers and residents believe? And, why do ratepayers have to wait 16 months before a new mayor and councillors are elected.
When MidCost Council held its first monthly meeting following the merger the chamber erupted into anarchy – there is no other word which would describe the situation – as a group of canary-yellow clad women bearing the moniker Knitting Nannas took over the room.
Many in the group remained seated in their chairs and continued with their craft, much like Tricoteuse, the French knitters who sat beside the guillotine during the Revolution. If this wasn’t a serious situation, it would almost be laughable.
Residents have a right to ask questions and received an honest answer.