One councillor for 2106 people – if you live in the right Sydney suburb

Sydney’s highest-earning residents receive greater representation at a local level than their less affluent neighbours in a disparity that is leading to entrenched disadvantage and increased insularity between council areas, critics say.

Of the 10 highest-earning LGAs in metropolitan Sydney, eight —Woollahra, Hunters Hill, Mosman, Waverley, Lane Cove, Willoughby, North Sydney and Randwick — have the most favourable ratios of councillors to residents, while the lowest earning LGAs — Fairfield, Canterbury-Bankstown, Cumberland, and Liverpool — have some of the worst ratios.

The situation is so pronounced that one local councillor in Hunters Hill represents 2106 people but someone in the same position in Canterbury-Bankstown represents 24,536 residents.

Eamon Waterford, the CEO of the Committee for Sydney, says this dynamic is entrenching Sydney’s economic divide and lets wealthy residents protect their quality of life while shunning neighbouring communities in need of support.

“It is clear that whilst some councils are thinking really, really thoughtfully about the broader metropolitan experience, there are some that are very inwardly focusing, and they tend to be the smaller councils that don’t care about Sydney at large.

“We wouldn’t accept if public schools in wealthy parts of the city got more money than lower income schools, but for some reason we accept that when it comes to the services that local government provides.”

At the federal and state level, electoral boundaries are decided by independent commissions which are required to keep divisions within 10 per cent of prescribed population targets. Local government boundaries fall under the jurisdiction of the Minister for Local Government, and are not subject to population balancing requirements.

At the last federal election the difference in population between Sydney’s largest and smallest electoral division was 21,712 people. At the last state election the difference was 43,877. At next week’s local government elections the difference in population between Sydney’s largest council and its smallest will be 353,298 people.

Graham Sansom, Adjunct Professor at UTS’s Centre for Local Government who served as chairman of the 2013 NSW Independent Local Government Review Panel, said that the system benefits the wealthy and breeds inequity.

“When you leave these small local government areas with privileged populations and their very own little council in place you cement privilege,” said Sansom.

In 2013, at the request of then-premier Barry O’Farrell and local government minister Don Page, Sansom worked to rectify the boundary issue through the Revitalising Local Government Report.

The report recommended a series of statewide amalgamations alongside a rigorous public consultation process in pursuit of a “sustainable and fit-for-purpose” local government model.

However, after O’Farrell’s resignation in 2014 and a cabinet reshuffle under new premier Mike Baird that saw Paul Toole become local government minister, the report was shelved. In its place, a new boundary shakeup — known as Fit for the Future — was launched with private research conducted by consultancy firm KPMG. Findings were not disclosed under claims of cabinet confidentiality.

Page described the Baird reshuffle and subsequent KPMG consultation as “the end of independent, genuine local government reform,” saying that he was “upset” that Sansom’s recommendations were not considered by cabinet.

“There was a bit of politicking in what would make a good amalgamation,” said Page. “There wasn’t a lot of hard intellectual thinking. There was more working out what would work politically or not.”

Sansom shared similar views: “Mike Baird’s government and Paul Toole as the minister didn’t follow the process that we had recommended, and they came up with their own list, and to this day, I don’t think anybody really knows how much research and investigation went into producing that list.

“They rushed through these so-called inquiries, and in doing it that way they opened themselves up to legal challenges on the grounds of failure of due process.”

The program was soon abandoned by the Berejiklian government. Toole did not respond to the Herald’s request for comment.

The map is now divided, with amalgamated councils in the south, west and north, and small councils in the lower north shore, eastern suburbs and pockets of the inner west.

Local Government Minister Ron Hoenig said Labor does not plan to dictate LGA boundaries, but has legislated to allow councils to de-amalgamate if they put it to a referendum and pay for it themselves.

“It’s government policy that we will ... operate in accordance with the wishes of the communities themselves.”

Hoenig served as the mayor of the small Botany Council for 31 years before its merger with Rockdale in 2016, and believes small councils are fit for purpose.

“Merged councils have been a bit of a shambles. Unpopular, inefficient, not financially sustainable, massive rate increases, poor services, angry people,” said Hoenig.

“When you throw them together, like Canterbury-Bankstown or Bayside or Georges River, then there’s no organic growth. There’s just these two councils slammed together.

“There’s no votes in changing council boundaries, but they’ll hate you forever.”