Seven years after the New South Wales Coalition government forcibly merged Ashfield, Leichhardt and Marrickville councils into the Inner West Council (IWC), the promised benefits, including savings, have failed to materialise.
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Marghanita da Cruz
Editor Annandale on the Web (since 1998)
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Email:marghanita@ramin.com.au
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aa-11-15
Seven years after the New South Wales Coalition government forcibly merged Ashfield, Leichhardt and Marrickville councils into the Inner West Council (IWC), the promised benefits, including savings, have failed to materialise.
In fact there have been:
In 2021, council commissioned the NSW Electoral Commision to run a poll on de-amalgamation: 62.5% voted YES
All 5 wards and all 21 suburbs voted to de-amalgamate.
Council meeting agendas are overloaded, making it harder to have democratic decision-making.
Many forcibly amalgamated councils are struggling financially, according to local government expers and this is driving rate rises.
Amalgamation has failed its projected savings outcomes.
Amalgamation failed to provide benefits and means a loss of LOCAL connections.
Labor in opposition pushed for the Local Government Act to allow councils to de-amalgamate within 10 years of their merger.
Now, a bill developed in conjunction with communities, would allow the Minister to act without a plebiscite if there is clear evidence of residents' views: for example, our council initated NSWEC poll.
The bill affirms that the one-off deamalgamation cost would be paid by the NSW government.
We anticipate it to be in the order of, or less than the $10million and $15million in grants to councils when they were forcibly amagamated in 2016.
A de-amalgamated Inner West Council could maintain shared servicers- libraries, poools and childcare - and maintain a communication network until new ones are needed.
Having three councils again, with councillors familiar with their respective area and issues, would put the local back into goverment and allow for greater trnsparency and accountability.
facebook (group) RESIDENTSFORDEAMALGAMATION
email yesdeamalgamate@gmail.COM
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