A show of hands at the Dubbo public inquiry into the council amalgamation with Wellington showed “almost 100 per cent” of the room was against the merger.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
In front of delegate Dr Ian Tiley, Leo de Kroo asked the crowd of hundreds to show their thoughts on the amalgamation, before declaring the overwhelming majority were against it.
Mr de Kroo’s next comment was met with cheers when he said: “If the government is really about saving money and being more efficient, can I suggest they eliminate the centre tier of government which is the state government?”
The Club Dubbo auditorium was filled with councillors, council staff, representatives of prominent organisations and concerned members of the public from both Dubbo and Wellington for the meeting.
Of the 14 people who spoke at the first inquiry, including Dubbo mayor Mathew Dickerson, not one was in favour of an amalgamation.
As the council representative, Cr Dickerson was given 15 minutes to make his view heard while everyone else was allowed five.
Speaker Phil Priest quoted Albert Einstein to show his stance.
“Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted,” he said.
Mr Priest said the two reports on the amalgamation, the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal’s (IPART) Fit for the Future report and KPMG merger proposal, focused on statistics, costs savings and calculations.
“They ignore things that can not be counted... a sense of belonging, a sense of community,” Mr Priest said.
“Belonging gives me a sense of identity. I belong to Dubbo, Dubbo is part of my identity.”
Like Mr de Kroo, Ray Tickle pointed the finger at the state government.
“The government you (Dr Tiley) report to wants to absolve its responsibility and have Dubbo take on the responsibility,” he said.
“This is a government out of touch with responsibility, with reality. They’re forcing one council to come to the rescue of another.”
Cynthia Foley said the old adage of being rewarded for being good and being punished for being bad no longer existed.
“Clearly stated at the start of the amalgamation talks was that there would be no forced amalgamation,” she said.
“Is it going to be of any benefit to Dubbo to have to pick up the tab of Wellington? Is Dubbo being punished for being good?”
Ms Foley said she could not see how Dubbo could provide the same resources as it does to the city to Wellington.
“It wouldn’t matter how much money is ploughed into Wellington, it would be no better off and Dubbo would be worse off.”
Wellington resident Pip Smith said the town was no more in favour of an amalgamation than Dubbo.
“We ask nothing of the Dubbo ratepayers other than to support our stance on amalgamation,” Ms Smith said.
“If we do amalgamate, we’ll embrace it and move forward and we’ll use the change for good, but I pray they won’t make us do that.”
Cr Dickerson used his time speaking before the delegate to highlight the vast differences between Dubbo and Wellington.
He said there was no history of mining between the local government areas, as KPMG stated, and there was no data to show rates would decrease.
“[A merger between the towns] is a square peg trying to be driven into a round hole,” he said.
“We’ve got neighbours we get along well with, but let’s not invite them into our house.”
Cr Dickerson said there had also been a lack of data supporting the merger of the councils, without which an amalgamation was “simply an experiment”.
Dr Tiley said he was at Dubbo to listen to the residents to gather as much information as he could and make an informed and impartial report.
He said as many people as possible should make a written submission before the February 28 deadline.
Deputy Premier and Dubbo MP Troy Grant was called out for not being at the meeting and supporting Dubbo and Wellington desires to remain standalone, however his mother’s memorial service was on Wednesday.
For more information on the process or to make a written review go to www.councilboundaryreview.nsw.gov.au.