The State Liberal Party has savaged the Malinauskas Government’s failed plebiscite into the amalgamation of the Grant District and Mount Gambier City councils.

Opposition Leader David Speirs described the plebiscite as a “thought bubble” which was categorically rejected.

“Stunningly, just 278 people in Grant District Council voted ‘yes’, showing Peter Malinauskas is deeply out of touch with the people of the South East,” Mr Speirs said.

The Opposition is now calling on Labor to rule out a forced amalgamation between the two councils.

“It just shows how city-centric and out of touch with regional South Australia the Labor Party is,” Mr Speirs said.

“Peter Malinauskas has treated the South East like a FIFO destination and this is the result you get when you rush flawed legislation through Parliament without doing proper consultation.

“This whole process has amounted to a huge waste of time and money.

“In complete contrast, the Liberal Party has travelled to the South East multiple times, holding community forums to hear directly from residents.

“Peter Malinauskas must now rule out taking this forced amalgamation any further.”

Local Government Shadow Minister Sam Telfer said he expected the result after “hearing many concerns from the local community”.

“Peter Malinauskas and Geoff Brock have made a mess of this entire process right from the day they unexpectedly lobbed this plebiscite hand grenade at the South East community,” Mr Telfer said.

“Through our consultation, we heard many concerns from the local community and despite putting forward a number of amendments to Labor’s legislation, Peter Malinauskas arrogantly ignored these and rushed the Bill through Parliament.

“If this is going to be Labor’s approach when it comes to policy for regional South Australia, we should all be very worried.

“Regional communities want their voices to be heard when it comes to making decisions that directly impact them – and unfortunately, we did not see that during this process.”