Oberon mayor Kathy Sajowitz is planning to talk about the contentious merger when Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Upper House member Robert Borsak and the party’s sole representative in the NSW Lower House, the Member for Orange Phil Donato, visit Oberon later this month.

Mr Borsak and Mr Donato will be in the town to talk to Oberon residents.

“I imagine one topic of discussion will be Mr Borsak’s plan to introduce a bill into the Upper House when Parliament resumes in February with the aim of blocking the forced amalgamation of councils and giving communities affected by this undemocratic process the opportunity to say whether they support a merger or not,” Cr Sajowitz said in her latest council update.

“Mr Borsak has indicated there is support amongst the Labor Party, the Greens and Fred Nile for this proposed bill and he is confident it will pass the Upper House.”

Mr Borsak said in a press release in late December that members of the National Party “will have to show their true colours when our plan reaches the floor of Parliament”.

Oberon Council’s legal challenge against its forced merger with Bathurst was rejected by the NSW Land and Environment Court last year.

Oberon Council lodged an appeal in the Supreme Court on December 23 – a day after the similar appeal from Woollahra Council was lost in the Supreme Court.

Cr Sajowitz said her council had “taken this decision after careful consideration of sound advice from our legal team, along with the results of the recent community survey, where the community again endorsed continuation of the legal challenge through the court".

"The minister has undertaken not to proceed with the merger proposal until February 22, 2017 by which time we hope to have a hearing date,” she said.

"Cabonne Council has also lodged an appeal in the Supreme Court, therefore cost burdens will be shared.”