Woollahra Council launches second bout of legal action over forced mergers in less than a week

WOOLLAHRA Council has launched legal action against the State Government for the second time in less than a week in its bid to stand alone.

Woollahra Mayor Toni Zelter pictured at the Woollahra Council offices.

WOOLLAHRA Council has made a legal complaint against the State Government for the second time this week in its bid to avoid forced amalgamation.

A letter penned by the council’s legal representatives to Dr Rob Lang — a delegate of the chief executive of the Office of Local Government — sent on Wednesday argued that Dr Lang had breached the Local Government Act by not conducting a proper inquiry while overseeing plans to forcefully merge Woollahra with Randwick and Waverley councils.

In the nine-page letter, the council took umbrage with the fact that Dr Lang did not take questions, or respond to any statements at the public meeting.

“You have failed to hold a public inquiry at which you or a person knowledgeable with the proposal was capable of explaining it and who was capable of answering all reasonable questions,” the letter said.

“Apparently you saw your function at the meeting held on February 4 as simply to attend the meeting at which you were present to listen to what was said and to play no active part.

“That is not an inquiry as required by the section (of the LGA).”

Woollahra Mayor Toni Zelter with councillors (left to right) Peter Cavanagh, Greg Levenston, Andrew Petrie and Ted Bennett pictured at the Woollahra Council offices.

In the letter, Mr Stewart argued the office had failed to give reasonable notice of a public meeting which was held outlining the proposal.

Mr Stewart alleged a notice placed in several newspapers regarding a meeting on the proposed merger was “deficient both in shortness of time and content”.

It “could not be reasonably expected that the notice would have come to the attention of a resident of the local area of Woollahra until at least January 20 ... a period of 14 days before the meeting,” he said.

Mr Stewart claimed it was “deficient” because it did not reference that the amalgamation was forced, nor did it highlight pros and cons.

The letter also argued the office of local government and Dr Lang had failed to observe procedural fairness by not giving enough notice and “failing to hold a proper inquiry.

It also argued that he did not seek the views of the Woollahra electors by way of a postal survey or poll.

The council has threatened legal action against Dr Lang if he does not “remedy the breaches” by 5pm, on March 16.

The legal challenge also criticised the State Government for not releasing the full findings of its commissioned KPMG report on which the amalgamation proposal has been based.

“I find it perplexing neither KPMG nor the Government independently verified the information used in the Government’s amalgamation proposal and yet they expected the community to provide feedback on it,” said Woollahra Mayor Toni Zeltzer.

But the legal action has come at a cost to ratepayers, Cr Zeltzer admitting the recent advice had so far costed the council $60,000.

However, she used the figure to take yet another swing at the state government, which is “hell bent on not listening to our strong community opposition”.

“The cost of legal advice, which we estimate to be around $60,000, will be far outweighed by the whopping $7m to $17m cost burden in increased rates which our local residents will be left with if the amalgamation is pushed through,” she said.

Cr Zeltzer said the government had failed to listen to the community.

“Two Micromex community surveys, a petition of more than 10,000 strong and a Council resolution supported unanimously ... delivered a resounding no to the forced merger of Woollahra,” she said.

“I question the commitment of the Government to genuine community consultation when they haven’t followed the democratic process clearly laid out in the Local Government Act.

“One of the basic principles of change management is transparency and open

communication — this has not occurred. The people of Woollahra deserve better.”

The latest legal challenge issued by Woollahra Council came after it employed top silk Bret Walker SC to threaten Local Government Minister Paul Toole on Monday.

They have given him until the coming Monday to respond by freezing eastern suburbs amalgamation talks immediately.

The crux of that argument lies in parliamentary records showing then-Labor Local Government Minister Harry Woods, intended the legislation now being used to force amalgamation only to be sued on a voluntary basis.

The Department of Premier and Cabinet, which speaks for Dr Lang, said it had “been informed that correspondence was sent to Dr Rob Lang by Woollahra Council’s solicitors informing him of council’s intentions to potentially proceed with a legal challenge”.