Why must the NSW Government foot the bill?

The previous state government already committed to fronting the cost of demergers. They chose to force through their amalgamation plan — so it shouldn’t fall to communities to pay for the clean up. As far as we know (because the proposals behind amalgamation were never released to the public), amalgamations put additional pressure on already strained resources, steamrolled local democracy, and redrew and confused boundaries along arbitrary and political lines. Communities and councils shouldn’t be forced into a position where they have to cut essential local services to pay for cleaning up the state government’s mess.

People who live in local government areas hit by fires and floods are quadruply paying the price for these natural disasters - by paying the Emergency Services Levy both through their insurance and their local council, by having to account for the depreciation of emergency service assets on the books of their local councils, and as front line emergency services volunteers themselves.

How can the NSW Government afford to demerge councils and the rising cost of emergency services?

There are plenty of untapped revenue streams for the NSW government — for example, by forcing fossil fuel companies to pay their fair share of coal export royalties, NSW could be collecting billions of dollars to fund essentials like our emergency services. You can read more about how this can be done here.

How do we know about the proposal for councils to foot the bill for their own demergers? 

This information was provided by the Office of Local Government in a briefing to the Inner West Council regarding the progress of their planned de-amalgamation on the 6th of June.

What about the councils that have been forced into administration and can’t demerge, like the Central Coast? 

We hope that councils under administration can have local elected representation restored as soon as possible. Whatever process is locked in for councils currently progressing de-amalgamation will impact any future de-amalgamations planned elsewhere.

I heard local councils waste lots of money? 

The Minister for Local Government has spoken about local government financial management in the NSW Parliament by listing a handful of items particular councils have spent money on that he doesn’t agree with. Local councillors should be held accountable for their spending decisions — by the communities that elected them. That’s how local democracy works.

This is an initiative of Dr Amanda Cohn, Greens NSW MP and Spokesperson for Local Government.