Upon receipt from a Council, the Minister must forward a business case to the NSW Local Government Boundaries Commission. The Minister for Local Government Ron Hoenig said:“The forced amalgamation of NSW councils was a failed and expensive experiment. Protect Pittwater Association president Simon Dunn said amendments to the Local Government Act proposed by the NSW government will do nothing to restore democracy for minority councils such as Pittwater, amalgamated into the Northern Beaches Council in 2016. "Instead, it perpetuates the endless deferring of decisions between the boundary commission and the minister, with neither being compelled to respect the strong desire of the former council residents to see their beloved Pittwater Council reinstated. It does not remove government responsibility for funding the demerger.”However, as Pittwater Council becoming a reality was decades of work by determined Pittwater residents and even stretches back further than that.

Source: The Local February 11, 2024 07:35 UTC