Member for Bathurst Paul Toole was yesterday scathing about federal Opposition Leader Bill Shorten’s intervention in the debate about the plans to radically cut the number of councils in NSW.

On the campaign trail just three weeks out from the July 2 federal election, Mr Shorten took aim at the forced council amalgamations, describing the process as an insult to democracy.

He is promising to fund plebiscites in all NSW local government areas if elected, a move which could allow communities to vote to keep their original councils.

Mr Toole told the Western Advocate yesterday he was unwavering in his commitment to delivering reform in his portfolio.

“My position has not changed. The NSW Government is, in principle, pending the results of legal action in the Land and Environment Court challenging the reform, determined to press ahead with this much-needed change,” he said.

“Mr Shorten’s comments are a sign of federal Labor’s desperation. It’s a political stunt to try to win some votes at a time when he should be focusing on federal issues such as getting the economy back on track and getting rid of the budget deficit.

“We have already reduced the number of councils in NSW, with 19 new councils created about a month ago as a result of mergers. 

“The feedback I am getting from those councils after speaking with residents, businesses and staff at the merged councils is that it’s very much business as usual.”

On a local level, Mr Toole said Calare’s Labor candidate Jess Jennings had been silent on the merger process while a serving member of Bathurst Regional Council before recently resigning ahead of Bathurst’s proposed merger with Oberon.

“This would indicate to me that he would be at odds with what Mr Shorten is saying,” Mr Toole said. 

Cr Jennings said yesterday the strongest possible action he could have taken in rejecting forced amalgamations was his decision to resign from council and not apply for any position on the interim council of a merged Bathurst and Oberon.

“I did this because fundamentally we [council] have been kept in the dark regarding amalgamation by the state government keeping secret the KPMG report into mergers,” he said.

“If that information had have been on the table, we would have been in a better position to make informed and rational decisions about the process.”

A judgement is yet to be handed down on Oberon and Cabonne councils’ legal challenge to their respective forced amalgamations.

There is no indication at this stage when the judgement will be made.