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

• Published date: 01 November 2018
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/pa.1725
• Date: 01 November 2018
• Author: Khandakar Farid Uddin

ACADEMIC PAPER

NSW local government reform: Council amalgamation,

antagonism, and resistance

Khandakar Farid Uddin

Macquarie University, Australia

Correspondence

Khandakar Farid Uddin, Department of

Geography and Urban Planning, School of

Social Science and Psychology, Western

Sydney University, Locked Bag 1797, NSW

2747, Australia.

Email: kh.fariduddin@gmail.com

Funding information

international Research Training Pathway (iRTP)

Scholarship, Macquarie University, Australia

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 resis-

tance strategies to challenge amalgamation. However, the initial efforts to resist amal-

gamation 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 com-

munity opposition and resistance. Despite a growing body of existing literature, to

date, the analyses of local government reform fail to examine the rationale and strat-

egies of community opposition. To examine the public participation, community oppo-

sition, and resistance, this paper draws on the research that pertains to the proposed

merger of the Ryde, Lane Cove, and Hunters Hill councils.

1|INTRODUCTION

Local government is a key device in governance an d administration

systems, particularly to ensure facilit ies for and services to commu-

nities. Local governments in Australi a deliver a significant number of

public services. Structural refor m through compulsory council amal-

gamation has been the primary instrument of refo rm in most Aus-

tralian states (Aulich, Sansom, & McKinla y, 2014; Brian, Joel, &

Lin, 2008; Drew & Dollery, 2014; Drew, Kor tt, & Dollery, 2013;

Sinnewe, Kortt, & Dollery, 2015). Al most every state has experi-

enced forced amalgamation (Bell, Dollery, & Drew, 2016; Drew,

Kortt, & Dollery, 2014). Subsequently, the number of loca l govern-

ments has been reduced from 1,067 in 1910 to 5 65 in 2013

(ILGRP, 2013; Ryan & Woods, 2015). Despite the push fo r amal-

gamation from state governments, forced amal gamation has always

been a controversial effort (Drew, Kortt, & Dol lery, 2016). Tiley and

Dollery (2010) characterise the contex t around council reforms

across Australia as “amalgamation wars”( p. 1) because state govern-

ments seek to implement amalgamation in the face of local govern-

ment and citizen opposition. In New South Wale s (NSW), there

were 327 councils in the year 1906, 324 councils i n 1910, 176

councils in 1991, 177 councils in 1992 , and 152 councils in 2003

(Tiley & Dollery, 201 0). Recently, NSW has experience d forced

amalgamation again concerning the Fi t for the Future (FFTF)

programme.

The NSW State Government introduced a series of local govern-

ment reforms under the banner of FFTF in September 2014 to reduce

the number of local government areas from 152 to 112. Consequently,

by September 2016, 20 new councils have been created in metropol-

itan Sydney. However, the creation of some councils was delayed due

to legal proceedings. According to the government, reform “would cre-

ate new, stronger councils, improve council performance and

strengthen the system of local government”(OLG, 2016a, 2016b).

Opponents including council staff, councillors, residents' groups, and

opposition political parties claimed that council amalgamation would

reduce existing services, raise rates, and weaken the local democratic

process (Byrne, 2016; Davies, 2015, 2016).

Numerous studies of Australian local government have been con-

ducted. For example, Tiley and Dollery (2010) examined the council

amalgamation and structural reform trends of NSW. Drew and Dollery

(2014) analysed the relation among council population, size, and finan-

cial sustainability and empirically proved that proposed amalgamation

does not provide any financial benefits. Drew et al. (2016) empirically

investigated the impacts of the economies of scale on Queensland

both pre and post amalgamation. Valuable empirical works have been

also conducted by Australian scholars about current FFTF reform. For

example, Drew and Dollery (2014) reported that the proposed

amalgamations would not secure enhanced financial sustainability,

whereas Drew, Kortt, and Dollery's (2015) study critically analysed

the scale and economic logic of the council amalgamation policy

Received: 12 October 2017 Revised: 4 February 2018 Accepted: 3 April 2018

DOI: 10.1002/pa.1725

J Public Affairs. 2018;18:e1725.

https://doi.org/10.1002/pa.1725

© 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/pa 1of8