NSW Treasurer Andrew Constance reckons we only need five Councils to run Sydney (Telegraph 23 October). It sounds like he is prepared to forcibly amalgamate Councils to achieve that goal.
He claims that the Federation is broken. The Federal Government is tearing up many National Agreements. NSW (under Constance’s watch) will lose tens of millions of dollars.
Many NSW Councils faced with spectre of amalgamation are looking at regional co-operative models to achieve sustainability. Perhaps the answer is to disband the states leaving a model favoured by Gough Whitlam where the Federal Government can directly fund regional organisations to deliver local services.
