As communities throughout the region continue to protest council mergers, the Wellington Stands Alone Anti-Amalgamation Group said their recent meeting with shadow opposition minister for Local Government, Peter Primrose was very productive.
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“Being a politician he was quite insightful and shared a lot of information about the process,” group representative Gary Francis said.
“They have a different take on amalgamations and their take was it should be a voluntary process.”
“The idea was that forced amalgamation is wrong.
“You also can’t use a metro model for rural areas.
Mr Primrose was impressed during his visit with the independent submission of local Simone McManus and also read her speech from the last town meeting, saying he would give a copy to each member of parliament.
This weekend Wellington Mayor Anne Jones also met with the mayor of Oberon Kathy Sajowitz
“We will talk in relation to how they see the future and what they intend,” she said.
“We really just need to continue to keep the pressure on and the member for Dubbo needs to understand the community is not happy.
“The community is far from happy. He still has not given any indication as to whether he supports or rejects amalgamation other than to say he will support what is in the best interests of the community, however he has not told us what he believes to be in the best interests of the community whether it be amalgamation or non-amalgamation.
