Do it properly, or don’t do it at all, was a maxim my father taught me. Certainly if measured by this maxim the Baird/Toole amalgamations, now partially backflipped on by the Berejiklian/Barilaro regime, must be deemed to be an overall failure.
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But first, a bit of history: in 2000, Armidale merged with the small and unsustainable rural Dumaresq Council. This was achieved with a minimum of fuss, no lengthy period of administration and no state government extra funding of millions of dollars. There was an interim council consisting of all councillors from the two councils sitting together for three months before elections for the amalgamated council.
In 2004, there were a number of amalgamations held statewide, including Tamworth Regional Council and Clarence Valley Council. The noteworthy thing here was that they were fairly large-scale amalgamations, involving three or four mostly smaller councils amalgamating with a centre such as Grafton or Tamworth, and thus together adding up to comparatively large populations, where economies of scale could be achieved.
The New England or Northern Tablelands area avoided amalgamation at that time, launching instead the so-called New England Strategic Alliance of Councils (NESAC), which was lauded to the skies by the mayors of the day and the then local member, before collapsing into an ignominious mess.
In 2010, as a result of the NESAC collapse, the Kibble Report recommended an amalgamation of Armidale, Uralla and Guyra The then (Labor) government, however, lost its nerve, or perhaps was overly influenced by the then local member, and the recommendations did not go ahead.
When the Baird/Toole local government reforms were being discussed from 2015 on, the Armidale Dumaresq Council, then under my leadership as mayor, after much soul-searching, came to the unanimous conclusion that we should support in principle the government’s reform plans. We put in a submission for a four-council merger (ADC, Uralla, Guyra and Walcha), which would have created a truly regional council of 40,000 inhabitants, comparable to others such as Tamworth and Clarence Valley.
Ignoring the proximity of Uralla to Armidale of a mere 22 km, the community of interest, indeed the complete inter-dependence of these two centres in the areas of work, school, shopping, sport, entertainment, etc, the government chose to amalgamate us with Guyra only, despite the fact Guyra has a much smaller community of interest, being about twice as far away as Uralla, and having a population half the size.
It should be obvious to even the casual observer the benefits of a “mini-amalgamation” are minimal compared with the benefits of scale of a full-scale amalgamation.
It should be obvious to even the casual observer the benefits of a “mini-amalgamation” are minimal compared with the benefits of scale of a full-scale amalgamation.
The addition of Guyra Shire added some 4000 inhabitants, or around 15 per cent, to the new local government area. In the likely event of Tingha seceding from the new regional council, this will become even less as 1000 or so leave the area, making the Guyra component only a little over 3000 of the population of the new local government area, or about the same as was the case with the absorption of Dumaresq in 2000.
Successful amalgamations, such as in Tamworth or Grafton have involved a sizeable increase in population, and thus a much larger financial base, and significant economies of scale. While the $15 million extra funding ARC received from the state government has been a boon, especially for the smaller communities, it is obvious that a small population increase of 12-15 per centcould not have the same benefits as a four-way amalgamation, which could have almost doubled the size of this local government population (from some 25,000 to about 40,000).
And quite frankly, as someone who believes in fairness and equity, I don’t see why the residents of Guyra should have been treated any differently to those of other small rural councils. I won’t comment here as to whether this process has also been unfair to Armidale, except to say that having a democratically elected council removed for well over 12 months for a mini-amalgamation, which could well have been finalised in three or four months, ie. in time for the normal September 2016 election, was really making a mountain out of a molehill, and compares very unfavourably with the successful Armidale City/Dumaresq amalgamation process of 2000.
But where to from here? Pragmatically, although this was not the first preference of myself and the former Armidale Dumaresq councillors, we now have a fait accompli, with an amalgamated council, which is growing together quite well and overall amicably as far as I can see.
As someone who accepted the position of deputy chair of the Local Representation Advisory Committee of the Armidale Regional Council, tasked with advising the administrator without fear or favour, my commitment now is certainly to make the Armidale Regional Council as it currently exists work as well as it can within the constraints of its size and capacity. But sometimes I am sure the thought will cross my mind, and the mind of others in this area: could we or the government have done it better?
Dr Herman Beyersdorf is a former Armidale Dumaresq Council mayor. He is the deputy chair of the Local Representation Advisory Committee, Armidale Regional Council.