Faced with no softening in the NSW Government’s appetite for local government reform, and what appears to be a widespread lack of interest in the matter in Bathurst, Oberon’s anti-amalgamationists have simply stepped up their efforts.

In their latest move, they have taken their campaign directly to the streets of Bathurst, trying to make the city’s citizens understand the disadvantages of a merger between the two communities.

It’s an interesting move, to say the least.

If the people of Oberon are too persuasive in arguing how unattractive their council is as a merger target – that there are not enough ratepayers and too many roads and expenses – then they risk making the council look unsustainable and uneconomic.

And that is exactly one of the arguments the NSW Government would use to push for an amalgamation.

A betting man would say it looks increasingly unlikely – if it was ever likely at all – that Paul Toole and the NSW Government would reverse their position and allow Oberon to stand alone when final determinations are made later this year.

That reversal would have been better off being made in the early days of this debate, to save the months and months of criticism and pain for the NSW Government that has followed.

It also seems unlikely that the people of Oberon will simply give up on their quest to derail any amalgamation, having invested so much in their campaign so far.

So where does that leave us?

Exactly where we were at the start of this process – but with more bad feelings on both sides.