With member for Orange Andrew Gee opposing forced mergers at public meetings at Molong and Canowindra last week and dismissing figures supporting amalgamation as “plucked out of the air”, Nashdale orchardist Guy Gaeta said Mr Gee risked losing more votes than he gained.

“His job is to lobby government, not to take sides and this is going to cost him,” he said.

“There’s as many for it as there are against it - [those opposing mergers] have got the biggest voice because they’ve got the most to lose.”

Mr Gaeta said Mr Gee told him it did not matter what position he took, he would be in the wrong.

“But he should’ve taken a neutral position and helped people in any way he could to get them through the doors of the minister [Paul Toole],” he said.

Mr Gaeta said Cabonne farmers suffered from higher rates than their Orange counterparts due to Cabonne’s higher rural rates, yet did not have the same access to services.

“I don’t give a damn about what council I’m in as long as I get value for money and what we find on the eastern side is we get no services at all,” he said.

“We’ve got no garbage service and I got a skip bin to go to the tip [at Ophir] and it was $90 more expensive because we were in Cabonne,” he said.

Amalgamation No Thank You spokeswoman Marj Bollinger said while there was respect for all opinions, the price of garbage services was not at the top of the priority list.

“I think the majority believe there’s more to be gained by staying as we are than joining together, especially if we take up a collaborative model,” she said.

Mr Gee said in a statement he recalled the conversation with Mr Gaeta differently, but conceded some people would disagree with his stance on mergers.

He said he would seek an explanation from the government regarding the veracity of the KPMG figures and for the Boundaries Commission to conduct consultations and polling in accordance with the Local Government Act.