A webinar to be held on Thursday, March 2, will look at putting the “local” back into local government as key speakers discuss the amalgamation of Gosford and Wyong Councils in 2016 and the possibilities of de-amalgamation.
The webinar will be hosted and moderated by Jackie Pearson from The Point ESG News site, who said it would be an opportunity to hear from grass-roots campaigners who have succeeded in starting a demerger process in their areas.
Speakers will be: Pip Hinman, from the Inner West Council area, who will speak about a successful community poll at the 2021 Council elections; Glen Moore, from the Gundagai Council in Exile, who has run a successful campaign for the demerger of the amalgamated Cootamundra Gundagai Council; and former Central Coast Mayor Jane Smith, who will talk about steps the community can take to restore democratic local government.
All three speakers are members of the Demerge NSW Alliance which has strong support from all of the 20 remaining merged councils across NSW.
Hinman says changes made to the Local Government Act in 2021 give communities a pathway out of the 2016 forced council amalgamations.
At the webinar, she will talk about how residents from the former Marrickville, Ashfield and Leichhardt Councils campaigned to make their new amalgamated council vote on holding a referendum at the 2021 elections to determine whether or not residents wanted to go back to their old local government boundaries.
She will share the results of that referendum, and what’s happened since.
Pearson said Hinman’s experiences will resonate with anyone who has lived on the Central Coast since the forced merger of the former Gosford and Wyong Councils in 2016.
“Listening to Pip Hinman will make Central Coast residents feel less isolated and alone,” she said.
“The Inner West of Sydney is a very different community to the Central Coast but they’ve lost representation, lost services, they’re paying higher rates and they’ve lost their voice.
“It’s a very familiar story.”
Moore will share how he ran a successful campaign for the demerger of the Cootamundra-Gundagai Council.
Smith, who operates Central Coast Friends of Democracy, said Local Government Minister Wendy Tuckerman and Premier Dominic Perrottet have both made election promises that there will be no more council mergers if they remain in government after March 25.
“(This) is a strong indicator that they are under pressure from their own political base,” she said.
“The NSW Government and the State Opposition have both underestimated the importance of local government to communities in NSW.
“Our community wants their local voice back.”
The webinar will be held via Zoom from 6-7.30pm on Thursday, March 2.
Registrations are open now via Friends of Democracy https://ccfriendsofdemocracy.com/events
For more information email: jackie@thepoint.net.au.
Terry Collins