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Coal seam gas extraction will be an impact issue in NSW local council M&As

By Richard Stanton - posted Wednesday, 24 August 2011


Coal seam gas extraction is about to become the issue that completes the NSW state government drive towards mergers and acquisitions of city and regional local governments.

Most town councils in NSW have no clue about how to deal with the community outrage and the well-constructed professional opposition campaigns to mining and other hot button issues that are surfacing across the state.

Mergers and acquisitions are big business in the corporate world and are played out in the media and in the public sphere.

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Council mergers and acquisitions, where the assets and tax base of one council might be gobbled up by another for purposes similar in nature to the corporate merger, are also big business but less transparent.

A two day workshop on the future of local government held in Dubbo on August 17 and 18 provided the latest iteration of opaque activity related to local councils – city and country.

I'll get back to the coal seam gas issue momentarily.

Destination 2036 in the thriving western tablelands city of Dubbo was billed as the most important opportunity for NSW local government leaders to talk together about the future and to plan for the type of councils communities deserve.

Its purpose, according to the brochure, was to create a bold vision, a preferred model for local government and to identify the roadmap that would put councils on the path to that vision.

The reality was less Hollywood. The gathering of mayors and general managers was in reality about mergers and acquisitions; referred to politely as amalgamations.

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It was a hidden agenda. Delegates got to hear from a futurist talking up genome mapping and smart buildings and an academic talking down the possibility of future funding from the state and federal governments but the real issue was future M&As.

Even a mayor as politically savvy as Sydney's Clover Moore told a journo outside the workshops that the whole thing did not seem to have a clear direction.

It was a closed shop – no media, no outsiders. Delegates had plenty of opportunities to communicate with the world and their constituents via Twitter but two only, the mayor of Lismore Jenny Dowell, and the mayor of Gunnedah Adam Marshall, took advantage of the technology.

So much for visions of the future. But I'm getting off the point.

Despite the loud voices protesting M&As, one mayor said opposition to the possibility was not as widespread as some might imagine and that the loud voices were not necessarily representative.

This is all very well but as we know from past experience, workshops and conferences of this nature never come to a conclusion.

The workshop sessions finished at lunchtime on Thursday August 18 but there was no conclusive evidence that they had achieved their goal of deciding upon a destination.

This is where coal seam gas becomes the issue.

Barry O'Farrell and Andrew Stoner, as leaders of the parliamentary Liberal and National parties in NSW are searching far and wide for an issue that will create a turning point in the council M&A problem.

Turning points are deal breakers. And Mr O'Farrell and his local government Minister, Don Page, have their hands on a real 90 degree hottie.

Councils will not agree to widespread M&As themselves – too many vested interests, too many individuals with too much to lose financially and reputationally.

Coal seam gas exploration and extraction is enshrined in legislation but nothing has ever fired the imaginations of an alliance of cockies, greenies and townies quite so much.

Local councils have no communication mechanisms or strategies with which to engage opposition to issues from well-resourced groups such as GetUp and Lock The Gate when they balloon beyond measurable certainty.

Neither does the state government other than to divert attention and appear to be tackling it when in fact it will use it to achieve its own agenda.

The local government future for NSW will be 10 Sydney councils and another 10 or 12 across the remainder of NSW.

Regional councils wont be able to handle big issues like coal seam gas any better than the present dinky shire structure but the state government will have fewer councils to ride herd on.

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About the Author

Richard Stanton is a political communication writer and media critic. His most recent book is Do What They Like: The Media In The Australian Election Campaign 2010.

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All articles by Richard Stanton

Creative Commons LicenseThis work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

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