A group of landowners from Mullion Creek, March, Mount Canobolas and other pockets of eastern Cabonne on Tuesday announced their demand to cede from their current local government area and join the ranks of Orange City Council.
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They have gathered 350 signatures to a petition which requests the NSW government review and change the boundaries of the shires, placing them under the auspices of Orange mayor John Davis instead of his Cabonne counterpart Ian Gosper.
The crux of their argument is that they “are being ignored when it comes to services in the east of the shire, including road maintenance.”
While only time will tell if their points will hold any water with the powers-that-be in Macquarie Street, it’s easy to sympathise with the group’s plight.
Especially when they are examined in comparison to some less noble arguments we’ve heard in the past two years as the war over forced council amalgamations was waged.
Let us be clear: most of the advocates who tossed their hats into the ring and threw and absorbed punches over council mergers did so because they held genuine and sincere concerns over the future of their village, town or shire.
But, to be honest, it appeared there were some who didn’t.
There were some who appeared preoccupied with scoring political points and embarrassing their opponents, especially in the shadows of November’s byelection.
Some showed open disdain for the virtues of discussion and debate, preferring to shout loudest and most often in an effort to win support.
Some in Cabonne – outside the Amalgamation No Thank You movement – looked like they wanted independence simply for independence’s sake.
Some were fuelled by less-than community-minded motives, hoping to preserve jobs or roles which would come under threat through change.
The comparison of these people’s arguments to Tuesday’s landholders only makes the latter group’s case more compelling.
There’s is a fight based on two of the core principles of local government: access to services and inclusion.
Those principles haven’t always been in the spotlight where they belong.
At the very least, we can thank these farmers for correcting that.