THE NSW parliamentary inquiry into council amalgamations announced this week will create breathing space for small communities who feel they are being railroaded.
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The Legislative Council inquiry will look at the criteria set for assessing whether councils really are “Fit For The Future”, as the Baird government program is called, or whether they need to amalgamate to remain viable.
This set of criteria, developed by the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal (IPART), has been criticised by many groups, not least an outspoken anti-amalgamation lobby group from Cabonne Shire.
IPART’S yardstick has been seen as too focused on revenue, with not enough emphasis placed on intangibles like representation and sense of community.
When the inquiry gets under way it is important that it remembers regional and rural residents could be affected far more than people in big city councils where boundaries often run up the middle of busy suburban streets.
There is much more at stake for regional residents than whether one council has a more vigorous approach to preserving street trees or resident parking than its city neighbour.
West of the Great Divide, the merging of two or more councils might see the loss of council buildings and wage packets in towns and villages where they are significant employers.
It will be difficult for the inquiry to decide whether the IPART criteria will deliver an accurate assessment which takes into account both the financial efficiencies and savings and the possible impact on local communities, but there are historic amalgamations which can be examined.
The union of Evans Shire and Bathurst City Council to form Bathurst Regional Council is one such example.
It might be an interesting exercise to run the IPART ruler over that forced amalgamation and see which way the decision went.
The inquiry might also learn a lot about residents’ fears for a lost community and what actually eventuated in Evans and ask how IPART could adequately assess that impact elsewhere. It will be a hugely difficult task but the IPART fitness test should be better for it.