THERE was standing room only when about 350 people from across the Cabonne shire crowded into the Molong hall to form an anti-amalgamation lobby on Thursday night.
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Most of the people who crowded into the hall were opposed to the forced amalgamation of Orange City Council with the Cabonne Shire Council.
Although both councils have stated they want to stand alone following the commissioning of an independent report by consultancy firm Morrison Low that showed there would be little financial benefit to either council, the final decision will be made by the state government.
Hoping to bombard Local Government Minister Paul Toole with community opposition David MacSmith, Bob Sullivan and Marj Bollinger led the charge on stage at Thursday night’s meeting.
In the crowd some people held signs bearing anti-amalgamation slogans while a rallying song performed by Kerry Nichols, Bronie Dowling and Rhonda Watts to the tune of the Village People’s YMCA had many people singing and clapping along.
However, the main aim was to form the Amalgamation - No Thank You (ANTY) steering committee and Ian Atkinson, Sue Wild, Jock Haines, Gerald Ingham, Derek Johnson and Marj Bollinger answered the call and will co-ordinate further opposition to the amalgamation.
Mrs Bollinger and said she was impressed with the turnout.
“I think we would have topped last week’s council meeting [which also discussed the amalgamation],” Mrs Bollinger said.
“We really need everyone behind us, there’s a few up front that will do the work but we need people to be behind us to support us.”
The meeting was initiated by the Molong Action Group but the movement will represent each of the 16 villages in the Cabonne shire and village co-ordinators were nominated to represent each community to the ANTY group.
Ros Chapman of Molong was among the many concerned residents that gathered at the meeting and questioned what would happen if staff numbers at council were reduced due to amalgamation.
“I reckon they are going to pull all the workers out of Cabonne and Molong will become a ghost town, they won’t be going to the bank, going to the doctor, they won’t be going to Spa [supermarket] what will be left,” she said.
tanya.marschke@fairfaxmedia.com.au
