Inner West General Manager to address de-amalgamation at public meeting this week

By DANIEL LO SURDO

Over four months after residents voted in favour of de-amalgamating back to the former Ashfield, Leichhardt and Marrickville councils, the General Manager of Inner West Council is set to update the community on the state of the split later this week.

Accompanying the ballots at the December elections was a poll asking voters if they would like to see the area returned to its former Ashfield, Leichhardt and Marrickville councils after the three were amalgamated into the current Inner West Council in 2016.

The results showed that almost two-thirds of voters were in favour of de-amalgamating.

On Thursday, the General Manager of Inner West Council, Peter Gainsford, will update the community on the status of the de-amalgamation, including progress on the de-merger submission to the Local Government Boundaries Commission, during an online meeting.

It comes after the Labor caucus of council, who now have a one-seat majority following the local elections, have supported the preparation of a demerger business case, but have opposed calls to insert a timeline for de-amalgamation.

Motion to install Inner West de-amalgamation timeline called ‘redundant’ by Labor councillor 

The Greens motion to install a timeline for the completion of the de-amalgamation was labelled “redundant” by Labor councillor Philippa Scott, who said that “the business case will be prepared thoroughly [and] the community will be included and kept informed”. It was defeated by the Labor caucus, who all voted against the motion.

Other speakers at Thursday’s virtual event will be Greens councillor Justine Langford (who moved the aforementioned de-amalgamation motion), Independent councillor John Stamolis, and Rochelle Porteous, the previous mayor of Inner West Council.

The meeting on Thursday will take place over Zoom and has been organised by group Residents for De-amalgamation. It will be chaired by community representative Pip Hinman, and will begin at 7:00pm.