Leichhardt labels mergers “deceitful”

BY LUCAS BAIRD

Leichhardt accuses state gov of being “deceitful” on council amalgamations

Leichhardt Council has filed a freedom of information request concerning the unreleased KPMG report on amalgamations after the state government denied the council’s requests for the full report.

In an Extraordinary General Meeting on amalgamations last Monday, the council unanimously resolved to file the request for the crucial council mergers document.

Greens councillor, Rochelle Porteous, said the government’s timing and decision making on the issue was “deceitful”.

“The fact that they are not even releasing the full KPMG report is just dishonest, there is no other way to explain it,” Cr Porteous told City Hub.

But a spokesperson spokesman for the Local Government Minister Paul Toole said that the full report was publicly available.

“The complete KPMG report consists of the Technical Report, the Local Government Reform Merger Impact Analysis and the 35 merger proposals, all of which are publicly available.”

But Clr Porteus said the report released thus far was “a high level document with very little detail”.

“It is extraordinary the lengths they are going to, to try and stop people from understanding the issue, from allowing them to properly engage and be properly consulted.”

Earlier this week, the KPMG report for a proposed merger of Manly and Warringah was the subject of controversy after the general manager of Warringah Council claimed it to be misleading and potentially inaccurate.

Clr Porteous was also critical of the timing of the amalgamations.

“They are deliberately trying to push through these amalgamations while people are still on holidays,” she said.

“It is a terrible time to engage people on such an important issue and that has been deliberately chosen by the Baird government.”

Leichhardt Council’s Labor and Liberal councillors have also resisted the government’s forced merger proposals.

Labor councillor, Frank Breen, told City Hub that a public awareness campaign has started, with the council planning on releasing brochures and conducting a phone poll on amalgamations.

“The brochure essentially explains that residents have only one opportunity to make representations about the amalgamations,” Cr Breen said.

Leichhardt had previously held a phone poll on the topic around six months ago.

A spokesperson for the council told City Hub that the response rate was around 60 per cent and in favour of Leichhardt council standing on its own.

Cr Breen claimed that despite previous polling, it was important to get up to date information now that information surrounding the amalgamations had “firmed up.”

He said he wanted more background on what their concerns were.

Greens Member for Balmain, Jamie Parker MP, said he would be working with community volunteers to deliver information to all local residents encouraging submissions to the Council Boundary Review.

He said it was disappointing that Labor and Liberal councillors at Leichhardt Council “put their own political interests” ahead of democratic principles and had rejected the Greens’ proposal for a plebiscite on the issue.

“Instead Leichhardt Council will only conduct a telephone survey of a few hundred residents,” he said.

“This follows the same Labor and Liberal collusion to put forward the three-way merger plan back in November. By caving in to the State Government after a secret meeting with the Local Government Minister, the Labor Mayors of

Leichhardt, Marrickville and Ashfield have sold out their communities.

The spokesperson for Local Government Minister Paul Toole said that the Minister had referred the merger proposals to the CEO of the Office of Local Government.

The Chief Executive has delegated the function of reviewing merger proposals to Delegates who will have the responsibility to review and report on merger proposals. This will also include conducting public inquiries, calling for written submissions and providing their reports to the independent Boundaries Commission.