A PLANNED amalgamation between Bathurst Regional Council and Oberon Council is dead in the water after Nationals leader John Barilaro withdrew his party’s support for the policy.
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Local Government Minister and Bathurst MP Paul Toole said he expected Bathurst and Oberon voters to go to the polls in September to elect new councils after Mr Barilaro on Friday issued a strongly worded press statement saying that anger over the forced amalgamations “stops today”.
Mr Barilaro’s statement applies only to regional merger proposals that remain before the courts and will not impact on the 20 mergers already in place across the state.
Mr Barilaro’s announcement came just 24 hours after Premier Mike Baird – a driving force behind the amalgamations policy – announced he was retiring from politics and was designed to deliver a strong message to the incoming premier that the Nationals would be demanding a greater say in government.
It also comes as a massive blow to Mr Toole, whose position as local government minister would now seem untenable.
But Mr Toole was taking the news in his stride, saying he was proud to have overseen the creation of 20 new council areas that he said were already reaping the benefits of amalgamation.
“And I still really believe there were opportunities to supercharge those smaller council areas [involved in court action],” he said.
“We had put money on the table that would have gone towards vital infrastructure and services for the new councils and helped build the economies of those towns and provide additional services.
“While we have achieved about 80 per cent of the reform we set out to do, I’m still reasonably happy with what we have achieved.”
Mr Toole conceded he would not remain the local government minister but was hoping to land a new portfolio in the reshuffled cabinet.
But the opposition’s local government spokesman Peter Primrose said Mr Toole should not be waiting until next week to leave his post.
“Paul Toole should not wait to be dumped. He should resign as local government minister today,” Mr Primrose said.
“His policy of forced mergers is in tatters.”
Mr Barilaro’s press statement said it was time to draw a line in the sand over council amalgamations.
“The policy of local government amalgamations has impacted 20 councils, 12 of which are in regional NSW causing uncertainty and anger, and others are locked in costly legal action – that all stops today,” it read.
Fixing this problem, he said, would be one of his first orders of business in discussions with the new premier.
Treasurer Gladys Berejiklian is expected to be elected the new leader of the Liberal Party next week.