When the NSW government dropped its council merger bombshell a few days before Christmas, the minds of most people in the Shoalhaven and Kiama were firmly fixed on the festive season. But not for long. If there was intention behind the awful timing – and the suspicion was certainly there – it failed miserably.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
First to rise were the people of Kiama, who voiced their opposition to the plan loudly and doggedly. There was no way they or their council was going to accept a proposal that stripped away their identity and hitched them up with a local government area with which they had little in common.
Shoalhaven entered the fray a little later, thanks largely to the public efforts of a handful of councillors and concerned residents. Meetings were convened, petitions launched. While these no doubt had a bearing on the final outcome, it was probably the behind-the-scenes effort mounted by Shoalhaven City Council general manager Russ Pigg that helped convince Macquarie Street that its calculus was so wrong as to be laughable.
In his early discussion paper, Mr Pigg spelled out in dispassionate terms based on data just how awkward the fit was. He had been recalled from leave and got cracking, demolishing the argument for a merger that had been presented to council. Prominent in his analysis were the flaws in the calculations used to try to sell the proposal as a good idea.
His sober dissection helped galvanise local public opinion but, perhaps more importantly, convinced the elected councillors, the majority of whom were at first ambivalent, to get behind the campaign to fight the merger.
Also working behind the scenes to convince the government the idea was folly were the two state MPs Shelley Hancock and Gareth Ward, the latter doubtless concerned about damage to his electoral prospects had the merger gone ahead.
Both endured scathing criticism for not being sufficiently public about their opposition – unlike federal MP Ann Sudmalis, who made her opposition so abundantly clear there was a momentary push to dump her as candidate for Gilmore.
Now, it’s all done and dusted, two questions linger.
Why was the proposal put in the first place when from the outset it had more holes than a Swiss cheese? And how much did it cost in terms of extra work to bury it?