Former Wellington mayor Anne Jones has called on new NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian and Leader of the NSW Nationals and Deputy Premier John Barilaro to hold a plebiscite to decide the future of the Dubbo Regional Council.
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Mrs Jones believes a plebiscite is the only fair way for residents of Wellington and Dubbo – and any other councils forced into amalgamation - to decide what the community truly wants.
“…our state member Troy Grant said at a meeting at council prior to this all coming to fruition, that the people he spoke to wanted the amalgamation.
“When asked about how many people he spoke to, he said ‘well I didn’t keep count’,” Mrs Jones said.
“We asked him to give us an idea, and then he said ‘about 200 people’. We then said that we’d spoken to thousands.
“We walked the streets of Wellington, we went out to the villages, we did surveys… Matthew Dickerson and his group in Dubbo pretty well did the same thing and it was quite clear to us that more than 80 per cent of Dubbo did not want to amalgamate and it was more than 90 per cent in Wellington,” she said.
Mrs Jones said if – like in the case of the former Wellington Shire and Dubbo City councils – both parties are completely opposed to a merger, it can’t be expected to succeed.
Mrs Jones said that if the coalition want to be considered for reelection at the 2019 state election, they need to remember why they are in the position they’re in and who put them there.
“Listen to the constituents,” Mrs Jones said.
In a statement made on Friday, Mr Barilaro that his party no longer supported amalgamations.
He vowed to “put an end to the local government mergers in the bush” and said he would push the point when a new premier was elected to replace Mike Baird, who resigned on Monday.
Former Dubbo councillor, Greg Mohr, has called on Mr Grant to resign.
“… We need a fresh start and a member who understands what the people of the community expect.”
Mr Grant said despite uncertainty in the community before the merger, the overwhelming feedback he has received since the merger has been positive.
“The creation of Dubbo Regional Council has seen our community benefit from a $10 million injection that has made a real difference to local organisations,” he said.
“Our towns are working together as a regional economic powerhouse … something that we all benefit from.”
The mergers remain government policy.
