The ILGRP stated the need for a reduction from 157 councils down to 52 and nominated which councils should look to merge. The FFTF document listed seven criteria that local governments had to meet and if they couldn't meet all seven criteria they had to put forward merger proposals with neighbouring councils by June 28, 2015.

As part of the process the Office of Local Government has stated that all merger proposals must be put out on public display in their final form for 28 days prior to lodgement with the Office of Local Government and that widespread community consultation must occur prior to the finalisation of such proposals.

This is all well and good until you work out the timing of what has been set down by the current state government. Given the government's deadline it is almost impossible for councils to effectively represent their ratepayers interests.

The important details for ratepayers and residents such as will rates rise, where will the administrative centre be, how many votes will each council get on the new entity and where jobs will be located are not required to be finalised until the 12-month period following the lodgement of merger proposals.

The state government wants by June 28, 2015 only the identity of the merging councils and the financial consequences of the merger proposal.

For small councils such as Harden, Boorowa and the many others in regional NSW, this is a completely untenable situation as we will be locked into the merger proposal with a very limited say or negotiating power on the key items detailed above.

Many aspects of the ILGRP report highlighting the need for council amalgamations are justified as it can lead to better service delivery for ratepayers by removing a lot of the duplication that currently exists.

However the one-size-fits all approach taken by the government runs a very real risk of being detrimental to many ratepayers due to the short timeframe which councils have been given, to properly develop their proposals. The government needs to push back the timeframe to at least December 31, 2015 but preferably June 30, 2016.

Final proposals submitted need to include the ratio of councillors from the merging councils, how service delivery will occur and from where and as well as any significant changes to rating structure. 

The current plan is forced amalgamation by stealth which provides insufficient time to achieve the optimal outcome from both the Government's perspective and that of ratepayers.

Unless the Liberal/National parties are willing to change the timetable, voters need to make their vote count on election day in March by ensuring they don't get the mandate to force councils to merge post election day.

T Flanery

The prime minister released his seventh annual report on progress towards the Closing the Gap targets. It makes for sobering reading.

The Close the Gap Campaign Steering Committee, of which beyondblue is a member, has recommended that mental health and suicide prevention become a new priority focus.

We must do everything we can to achieve health equality by the 2030 deadline agreed to by Australia’s major political parties.

G Harman