Council Amalgamation – it’s time for YOU to be heard

Amalgamation / Fit For The Future, Survey 2 results, Counter-arguments – refer to the Save Hunters Hill Municipality Coalition

 

Hi Everyone,

Council Amalgamation / Fit For The Future

Your opinion about local government does matter. NOW is the time to make a submission with your views on Local Government.

The NSW Government is proposing reform of Local Government through the Fit For The Future (FFTF) initiative.

Our submission, available on our website here, does not claim to represent your views. Please take a few minutes to make YOUR own submission directly to IPART.

To be clear, nothing in our submission is an accusation, explicitly or implicitly, of corruption or impropriety. Our references to actions falling short of the expectations of the community are exactly that, in our opinion.

The quickest and easiest way to make a submission is from the IPART website, at the link below.

http://www.ipart.nsw.gov.au/Home/Industries/Local_Govt/Special_Variations_and_Minimum_Rates/Applications_Determinations/Submission_Form?versionId=dbf698e6-8a9a-4587-8bed-1c68bcf776f0

You can either type/copy up to 500 words into the box, or upload a file with your submission (easier if you would like to submit more than 500 words). You can even choose to make your submission confidential.

A valid submission could be as simple as describing your:

  • Desire for reform of local Government and boundaries not splitting integrated suburbs,
  • Desire for fewer senior managers per head of population,
  • Support for amalgamation of a smaller group of Councils instead of the mega-merger,
  • Support for a model other than the Joint Regional Authority described in Ryde, Hunters Hill, and Lane Cove Councils’ joint response, and/or
  • Anything else.

We encourage you to be heard, even if you don’t agree with us.

The Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal of New South Wales (IPART) will assess how well the Councils’ proposals meet the FFTF criteria, and provide the assessment to the state government during October 2015. Council submissions were due 30 June 2015, and we all have until 31 July 2015 to make our own submissions.

You can learn more about IPART and FFTF at this link:
http://www.ipart.nsw.gov.au/Home/Industries/Local_Govt/Fit_for_the_Future

The public comments included as results of Survey 2 run by Gladesville Community Group are comments made by respondents and are produced in recognition that the respondent has taken the time to submit their comments. Our publication here does not imply agreement or support.

If you agree with our submission, please feel free to make reference to it (from Committee of the Gladesville Community Group) in your submission. Of course, you can make an entirely un-related submission, or make a submission that disagrees with ours.

The Counter-arguments: Refer to the Save Hunters Hill Municipality Coalition

We also acknowledge the Save Hunters Hill Municipality Coalition, lead by Phil Jenkyn and Ross Williams – referred to in our submission. Although we come to different conclusions, we have great respect for their commitment to the community, and agree with the importance of public access to elected Councillors. We also appreciate their support for Gladesville by way of making requests that promote transparency and align with community expectations, directly to senior representatives of Council. We encourage you to read their opinions at http://www.savehuntershill.org/.

Survey 2: Satisfaction with Council’s consultation for Fit For The Future

Thank you to the respondents to our second survey. The results were not released prior to now, but have been incorporated in this submission at Annexure 2. They can also be viewed separately on our website here.

Donations

We thank the generous donors who have already contributed to the Group, and will always appreciate donations of any size to;
Bank:                    Commonwealth Bank
Account Name      Gladesville Community Group Incorporated
BSB                      062 166
Account number   1042 2131

– from the team at Gladesville Community Group (Inc)