Grant District Council believes the State Government is attempting a “forced amalgamation” with Mount Gambier City Council, after it was revealed the upcoming amalgamation plebiscite requires a simple majority of over 50% of all votes across both councils to succeed.
This has prompted the much smaller district council to send a ‘please explain’ letter to authorities after a special meeting expressed “extreme concern” over the proposed mechanisms of the upcoming plebiscite, to be run in conjunction with this year’s local government election.
The meeting was called by mayoral candidate Kylie Boston and fellow renominated councillors Megan Dukalskis and Gill Clayfield.
In their reasoning, the trio called on Premier Peter Malinauskas to “bring an immediate stop to the proposal to hold a plebiscite as part on the upcoming Local Government Council elections”.
“The present proposal (comments made by Minister Brock, 21/9/22 ‘a simple majority of over 50% of all votes on the plebiscite across both councils will be considered a positive response’), means that any vote in Grant District Council is totally meaningless and undemocratic,” they said.
“It means the way the City of Mount Gambier votes will determine the outcome no matter how our ratepayers vote.
“This will not only greatly damage the present respectful and professional relationship between the two councils but has broader ramifications for local government across the state.
“It in effect says larger urban councils can use their numbers to gobble up rural councils whenever they choose. This needs to be stopped right now. The Premier must call an immediate withdraw to this totally undemocratic heavy-handed state dictated process.”
Council chief executive Darryl Whicker said, in a report to the meeting, the rationale for the special meeting was “concern by Grant District Council ratepayers that a simple majority vote across both councils, in circumstances where our population sits at 8511 residents to City of Mount Gambier’s 27,642 at the last census, would be a non-representative vote”.
“Therefore, the plebiscite process can reasonably be viewed as a step towards ‘forced amalgamation’ particularly when the process post poll is undefined,” he said.
“The motion has been raised in response to a State Government initiated process, where time is of the essence because the Bill is currently under consideration and is not a new and independent decision of council.
“The motion supports the Local Government Association of South Australia (LGA) documented policy position of no-forced amalgamations, which is supported by council and the local government sector generally.
“The motion is seeking clarification and/or cessation of a process (in its current form) and not a definitive viewpoint on amalgamation and therefore is not intended to bind the incoming council in any way.”
Following the meeting, a letter was sent to a host of representatives to ascertain what constitutes a successful plebiscite, seeking transparency in the results and how it will go on public record and the right to continue to consult through all steps of this process.
“In the absence of answers to these questions our community is denied a representative vote and if support of a majority vote the outcome could constitute a forced amalgamation,” the motion read.
“Our ratepayers need to be well informed and their decisions are respected.
“We recommend the plebiscite is stopped and failing that, the plebiscite outcome to investigate amalgamation between Grant District Council and City of Mount Gambier require a majority vote in each council community.”
