NSW local government reform: Council amalgamation, antagonism, and resistance

Abstract

The New South Wales State Government announced its local government strategic reform programme Fit for the Future in 2014. At the centre of the plan was the desire to reduce the number of local government areas. Opponents mobilised various resistance strategies to challenge amalgamation. However, the initial efforts to resist amalgamation failed but opponents got success in opposing amalgamation via the legal system. As such, the New South Wales State Government was forced to abandon its plans to amalgamate some regional and metropolitan councils in response to community opposition and resistance. Despite a growing body of existing literature, to date, the analyses of local government reform fail to examine the rationale and strategies of community opposition. To examine the public participation, community opposition, and resistance, this paper draws on the research that pertains to the proposed merger of the Ryde, Lane Cove, and Hunters Hill councils.

Key achievements of New South Wales local government Disability Inclusion Action Plans in the era of inclusion policy and planning: A policy content analysis

“…Soon after all NSW local councils were legislated to create their first DIAPs, the NSW Government's plan of forced amalgamations began to be realised (Dawson et al, 2019). Despite a number of councils undertaking legal action and widespread community opposition to the plan, 152 councils were amalgamated into 128 in 2016 (Farid Uddin, 2018). The legislated deadline to have launched a DIAP of 30 June 2017 remained unchanged despite amalgamations, presenting particular challenges to those councils involved in mergers, who had no choice but to continue their efforts to develop DIAPs in the midst of organisational upheaval (Dawson et al, 2019).…”