Public forum on council demerger

Cr Dorothy Robinson, Cr Margaret O’Connor, Dr Amanda Cohn MLC, Chairman Rob Lenehan
16th Jul 2024

Last Tuesday, 9th July, Save and Grow Guyra Ratepayers Inc. hosted a Public Forum at Guyra Bowling club with NSW Legislative Council member, Dr Amanda Cohn regarding the proposal for separation from Armidale Regional Council and the re-establishment of a new Guyra Shire Council.
S&GGRInc president, Rob Lenehan outlined the situation regarding the proposal for Guyra to separate from Armidale Regional Council under section 215 of the Local Government Act.
Dr Cohn spoke of her involvement as a Greens spokesperson for health and local government in addressing the damage caused to communities by the forced amalgamations of local councils and her role in a bi-partisan group of MPs that introduced a bill to parliament to allow communities affected by the failed forced merger scheme the right to vote in a plebiscite that would be binding on the Minister for local government to reinstate the former council with government funding for its re-establishment. Dr Cohn revealed that the Labor government was able to rely on the support of the coalition opposition to defeat the bill.
Dr Cohn stated that in response to the defeat of this bill the minister for local government later introduced his own bill to parliament to amend the Local Government Act (218cd) that now makes the council demerger process far more convoluted and costly, with the initial stages to be approved by a business case from the council itself before allowing the community the right to vote on a demerger while still allowing the local government minister a veto power over the approval of the separation.
The S&GGRInc committee consider it timely with the upcoming local government elections in September to encourage the residents of Guyra to take the time to identify which candidates standing to become a councillor will protect the interests of the Guyra community, uphold rural values and not pursue frivolous "city centric" projects at the cost of basic and fundamental council duties.