“Like asking $80 for a loaf of bread”: False costs of Inner West demerger
Image: Councillors from Inner West Council. Image: Inner West Council website.
by GRACE JOHNSON
Costs related to demerging one of Sydney’s most populated councils have recently come under attack.
In 2016, the NSW Government formed the Inner West Council by bringing together Ashfield, Leichhardt and Marrickville Councils.
In 2021, after five and a half years of the merger, the Inner West community voted resoundingly to demerge, a vote of 62.5 per cent in a poll with a 80.7 per cent turnout.
Almost a year ago on December 12, 2022, Mayor Darcy Byrne wrote a letter to the Minister for Local Government, Wendy Tuckerman, after resolving at a council meeting to respect the community’s wishes and submit the Inner West Council de-amalgamation Business Case.
The letter said that the full cost of de-amalgamating the Inner West Council would be between $178 million to $190 million, which the NSW Government would have to pay.
These figures have since been widely disputed.
Ms Sue Young, former Councillor in Pittwater Council, said “I consider that the report prepared by Morrison Low is flawed.”
Ms Pip Hinman from Residents for De-amalgamation (RfD) went further to refer to the business case as a “scare campaign.”
“The community voted 62.5% in 2021 to demerge,” said Ms Hinman. “This was despite a financial scare campaign by Councillors who opposed a demerger.”
“The Yes/No case for the Demerger Poll clearly informed voters that there would be a cost to demerge. You could surmise from result that people are prepared to pay a little more for greater representation and better services — which the amalgamated Council lacks. Council’s business case which was sent to the Minister was not a plan to demerge; it was a financial scare campaign.”
Ex-Leichhardt Councillor and long-standing community leader Kath Hacking also questioned the submission, saying that “Council doesn’t want to demerge. It has fought against the community at every stage.”
“The submission made by Council is not a community submission. Council’s submission disregards the poll and the voice of the community,” she continued.
Independent Councillor John Stamolis has been a particularly strong advocate for demerging Inner West for years.
Speaking with City Hub about the exaggerated costs, Cr Stamolis, who was an ABS statistician and data analyst for 40 years, said “it would be like asking $80 for a loaf of bread.”
In his media release, he writes: “Council’s highly inflated cost of demerger was produced by Morrison Low consultants, the same organisation whose data in 2015 overstated the expected benefits of the Inner West merger. None of the benefits occurred and their data was wrong by 2 to 5 times what actually happened.”
“Pretending that a demerger is the only cost is deceptive,” he added. “Our community also needs to know the cost to stayed merged. I expect that staying merged will cost much more than a demerger.”
Cr Stamolis also recently put forward a motion to Inner West Council asking that Council note that residents across all of the 5 wards in the Inner West, and all of the 21 suburbs, resoundingly voted to demerge Inner West Council.
The motion was unanimously voted down by Labor, who hold the majority.
The sway of Labor majority has recently come under fire, particularly after the last council meeting which saw Labor unanimously vote down a motion to call for a ceasefire.
The outcome was devastating to the community but it also brought into question whether Labor councillors are upholding the status quo of the current government or are truly aiming to serve their community.
Regarding that motion put forward to council, Cr Stamolis previously said to City Hub that “Political party control of councils brings forward major concerns about whether local councillors are making local decisions or the decisions of their state and federal parties.”
“Their political control of council is why they’re making sure we don’t demerge.”
Cr Stamolis has looked at Council data for the past 25 years, including viewing the costs of fixing potholes to building libraries and aquatic centres. He said, “I have never seen such outrageous costs as those put forward by Council for the demerger. Only Labor Councillors supported these costs, no other Councillors would put their name to this.”
Speaking to City Hub, Cr Stamolis reiterated the importance of demerging the council.
“We have just finished 7 years of the merger with the last two years being in deficit and next year the same,” he said. “We simply haven’t seen this before.”
“Service standards have fallen. Savings are non-existent. Staff turnover is extreme and Council’s ability to attract staff is poor.”
“Inner West Council is not fit for the future. Bigger has not made Council better.”
