Toole has ignored the convention of what is supposed to be a democracy but then he is in the Upper House of the NSW  Parliament, which are a protected species. 

Why did Toole  carry on with the charade of consulting the people when he clearly had no intention of listening to them. If he had listened at all he would not have done what he has to Harden and Cootamundra and many others. Because he doesn’t care about us. He has a safe spot in parliament, that is why Baird gave him the job.

The outcome will be very bad for Harden and possibly Boorowa. Apparently, an advisory group is to be formed for the interim to assist the administrator but from those who supported the Harden, Young, Boorowa amalgamation. Accordingly it would be a safe bet that there will only be one or two from Harden selected, if any. Thereafter, 11 councillors will be elected from all over by voters.

Most importantly, following  the experience of my many years in local government, I can only see miniscule savings, if any at all, by getting rid of a lot of councils. 

Our answer is to get rid of the Baird Government and particularly the Nationals as they abandoned us very early. No one who has any respect at all for  the very basis of our political system, that is democracy, should vote for this untrustworthy lying lot. We obviously now live in an arrogant dictatorship. The next state election is a couple of years away but remember what has happened when the time comes.

(The piggery decision now takes on a new dimension that will be interesting, councillors can’t be blamed now, only the staff.)

Mark and Heather Johnson, owners of “Dunroven” [LOT 181 subdivisions Portions 1, 2, 3] wish to present information that is pertinent to the discussion about the de Mestre’s application to construct a rural dwelling on Carnbrae.

As neighbours of Eulie we were neither informed nor consulted re the proposed mega-piggery by Edwina Beveridge or any representative of Blantyre Farms. To this day we have not been approached by the Beveridges concerning their DA for the mega-piggery and its potential impact on us.

As a result of no consultation with us, and inadequate and incomplete research, Edwina Beveridge/Blantyre Farms are apparently unaware that a number of Development Applications [DA 2013-056, DA 2014-51] were approved by HSC in 2013 and 2014 for the subdivision of our land into rural lifestyle blocks and dwelling construction. The subdivisions were all designed to provide suitable sites for dwellings. One DA for a dwelling has already been approved. Construction of this dwelling has been stopped pending the determination of the mega-piggery DA. Lifestyle blocks become very unattractive to buyers when they know there is a mega-piggery on neighbouring land that has the potential to impact on their quality of life and the availability and quality of creek water. This stall in construction means that Harden businesses are missing out on income. There has been a lot of talk about the promise of jobs with the mega-piggery. There has been little discussion about how the presence of the mega-piggery could have a negative impact on business and tourism in Harden-Murrumburrah.

A substantial portion of our property, including dwelling sites, falls within the variable separation zone required for the proposed mega-piggery. Rather than, as stated by Edwina Beveridge, presentation to HSC meeting 160316, the de Mestre’s DA having, 'the potential to stop [her] development’, on the contrary, the previously approved DAs for the development of our land as rural lifestyle blocks actually means that the choice of site for the proposed piggery contravenes the Protection of the Environment Operations Act 1997 Section 129. ' It is incumbent upon the proponent to ensure that odour emissions from the site do not impact negatively on current or likely future developments.’

If the mega-piggery proceeds at the proposed site all current and future development on Dunroven, and other properties and land on the southern edge of Harden will be severely impacted.

Premier Baird's decision to sack 42 councils demonstrates an incredible arrogance.

It breaks an election promise not to forcibly merge local councils. 

Democratically elected mayors and councillors have been dismissed and boundaries re-drawn, the new councils will be run by administrators, handpicked by the premier.

These administrators do not represent the community — they answer only to the premier. In many areas the mergers proceeded despite widespread objections from the community. But, because we are in the middle of an election campaign, a couple of mergers in marginal seats have been temporarily halted. 

The political cynicism is astonishing, but not surprising. Every step in this process has been driven by political considerations. 

We believe that local government should be reformed, not by forced amalgamations, but by banning developers from office and capping political donations. 

Labor is committed to returning democratic decision making to local government and where communities want to overturn the forced mergers, we will provide them with the democratic opportunity to do so.