Phil Donato and the NSW Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party (SFFP) have the NSW Nationals in their sights.

Despite their leader and Deputy Premier John Barilaro ruling out further support for forced council amalgamations, SFFP wants the party to go further by implementing a plebiscite on merged councils.

While claiming “it’s good to see [Barilaro] supports our policy position that we’ve maintained from the very beginning on forced council amalgamations” Mr Donato wants to up the ante and heap pressure on the Nationals in parliament.

He said SFFP is committed to introducing a bill to force plebiscites.

Mr Donato joined the Save Our Councils Coalition in Sydney on the weekend, promoting the significance of the Orange byelection win in the cause. 

“They [residents] should be given an opportunity to determine the issue, not to have it forced un-democratically upon them,” Mr Donato said.

The SFFP bill will be introduced into parliament’s upper house, with support from the Greens, Christian Democratic Party and the Labor Party.

“We’ve got the numbers in the upper house and I’ll sponsor it [the bill] in the lower house,” Mr Donato said.

“It will test the mettle of the Nationals to see if they’re prepared to support their electorates. 

“Mr Barilaro has come out talking tough, we would like to see him deliver actions. At the end of the day, [Barilaro]’s going to do whatever the Liberals tell him to do.”