Letter – Robert Cassidy, 9 May 2023

Council Amalgamations slated for Tasmania

Dear Honourable Minister Amanda Rishworth, Honourable Treasurer Jim Chalmers,  Honourable Minister for Local Government Kristy McBain, Honourable Brian Mitchell, et al:

RE: Tasmania’s Council Amalgamations

It might be worth meeting and interviewing Lou (Mayor Triffitt) and General manager Kim Hossack … Central Highlands Council.

Why?

It seems state government (the Liberal government) are going to ram amalgamations down our throats, like it or not, well-considered or not, viable or not, or ultimately more costly.

We had a town hall meeting, in Bothwell, only for residents and rate payers, who, to a person, made it abundantly clear to the Director of Local Government, Mathew Healey, they did not want our Central Highlands Council to be amalgamated.

But it was merely a ‘box ticking’ exercise for the Libs, “Yup, we did community consultation.” They want to get it done and dusted before next state election, because if it gets extended to an election issue, they might get drop kicked by the electorate -as they should be.

Dear Labor, this is your chance to bury the Liberal government. This single issue.

What amalgamation will mean for residents and rate payers of Central Highlands municipality is probably higher rates and fees and decisions being made by people who may not have any emotional connection or family history in the municipality.

Also, many damned-good, hard-working council employees on the end of a shovel or grading the municipality’s back roads could be put out of work.

There are about 5,000 local government employees, statewide … how many will end up on the dole? How many will have to commute from rural Tasmania to another council area, increasing traffic on the roads, increasing their driving and vehicle maintenance expenses, risking their lives having to drive further, at dawn and dusk, after a long hard day on the job?

How many of their families and children will be affected, child care, etc.? How will their mental health be affected?  How will adding 1,000 or more onto the dole affect the Federal Budget, now in surplus? Nic Street and Sue Smith have not thought this through. If I could stare them in the face, I would tell them so directly.

Consider that all 29 councils of Tasmania do not drive the same grader or lawn mowers, do not drive the same utility vehicles, do not use the same tyres on those vehicles, do not use the same computers or servers, do not use the same software, do not use the same telephone systems, do not use the same accounting systems, et cetera. In other words the shared infrastructure will need to be put in place long before the councils get amalgamated. Who will pay for this?  Rate payers and residents?

For current projects underway and on the books, how can we expect a councillor or council employee from some other local government area to get their heads around what we are doing right here in Bothwell on our stormwater system Stage 2, as an example. Federal and state grants that have been disbursed to Central Highlands Council, how will they be acquitted in the hands of someone absolutely unfamiliar with why we even applied for the grant?

How would this same clueless cohort manage lease arrangements we have with Great Lakes Community Centre, an another example. Or issues our council has encountered?  Would this clueless cohort even know what council properties are heritage-listed in their entirety, such as Steppes Hall?

Would our council policies be shredded and N/A tomorrow? Local knowledge is more valuable than they are willing to acknowledge.

This whole thing is very serious and will have implications long after you or I are in our graves. For example, I pay $20 annually for my dog licence fee. Why should I have to pay the same dog licence fee as Brighton Council or Hobart City Council? Why should my council rates increase to fund a council that is not as fiscally well managed as Central Highlands Council.

Please, I am urging you to investigate the state Liberal Party machinations and their rush to get amalgamations through.  They are not even giving our council sufficient time to respond. Why not? Have they made up their mind and are merely going to foist this upon the 541,071 Tasmanians, just like the stadium, without any care for what anyone thinks or knows is true?

Kindest regards,
Robert Cassidy

P.S. This Minister of Local Government, Nic Street, has a lot of balls suggesting he will reform local government when this is how he behaved as a Councillor.

Who is he?  What credentials does he really have to change the lives of 541,071 Tasmanians?  None!