Cr Pat Bourke is the only current councillor from the former Urana Shire. He says without representation, there is no future. (Photo by Monique Perera)
There are more than 30 countries that cover an area bigger than Federation Shire and it’s a challenge many, particularly those in the former Urana Shire, think is too big to manage.
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Now a successful referendum, which voted to demerge Snowy Valleys Council, has given impetus for a push for Federation Shire to also deamalgamate.
Former Urana Shire deputy mayor, David Fahey OAM is leading the push, and it seems he has a lot of support.
Deamalgamation is a complex and costly process, but Mr Fahey is no stranger to the nuances of local government.
He sat on Urana Shire Council for 13 years and, after the forced mergers in 2016, ran for a seat on Narrandera Shire Council where he was deputy mayor for five years.
He then spent one term on Federation Council.
Mr Fahey has a master’s degree in Local Government from University of Technology Sydney, because “if you are going to do something, you need to understand it”.
In December 2015, the NSW Government revealed plans for 35 council amalgamations to reduce to state’s 152 councils to 112.
Under threat of legal action, only 19 mergers went ahead in 2016, including Corowa and Urana councils, which formed Federation Council.
A survey, held in conjunction with the 2024 Federation Council election showed 76.6 per cent of voters thought the forced amalgamation was a mistake.
“Urana residents did not want to merge,” Mr Fahey said.
“A poll of Urana Shire residents in 2016 showed in excess of 80 per cent support to remain.”
Mr Fahey insists that Urana Shire would be “absolutely sustainable”.
The former council had a backlog of just $2 million, “mainly roads and a few building upgrades”.
“We did a lot with very little, now we pay double the rates and we’ve lost services,” he said.
“Us up north are subsidising the three river towns and paying six per cent subsidy for the Corowa swimming pool.
“I’d happily pay the rates we’re paying now if it was staying in Urana Shire, but we’re out of sight, out of mind.
“If Pat Bourke goes, it will be a fire sale.”
David Fahey OAM is leading the push for Federation Shire to deamalgamate.
Cr Pat Bourke is a former Federation Council mayor.
He is the only current councillor based in the former Urana Shire where he was mayor for four years and deputy mayor before that.
There’s no doubt he’s torn on the issue of demerging but says he has to represent the people.
“If the people are asking for a demerger, I have to represent them,” he said.
“I’m definitely getting people asking the question, for various reasons.”
Cr Bourke said Federation Council staff had done “a great job” but if the north of the shire can’t get representation into the future, “we don’t have a future”.
“If someone guaranteed the old Urana Shire would have representation of three councillors, then happy days,” he said.
“When we were forcibly merged we had meetings in Sydney, and the conversation was that we would get guaranteed representation, but somehow it never happened.
“I love what we’ve created in Federation Shire, and I’d like more time to fix the issues, but if you don’t have representation, it can have a massive impact ... local knowledge is so important”
Cr Bourke said the sale of council properties in Urana to get cash would impact on the hospital and the school there.
Removing the incentive of housing would put a block on vital staff coming to the town.
“When we employed people at Urana Shire, that was their base, that’s where they lived, but with Federation they have the choice of Corowa, Howlong or Mulwala,” he said.
“The works depot is down on numbers, and the council depot is closed two days a week.”
Urana lies 80kms north of Corowa in a shire bigger than 30 of the world’s countries.
Locals have their say
Michelle Forrester manages Urana Take Away and moved to the town after the 2016 amalgamation.
She says she has no knowledge of what things were like beforehand, but she does know that “anyone who lived here beforehand is very upset”.
"We have an ageing population and no means to cater for them," Michelle said,
"The trans grid workers have saved the town, because they come through here every day, sometimes up to three times a day, buying their food in Urana.
"But there’s no drive or leadership for Urana from local council."
Michelle is part of the Unified Community Action Network (ICAN Inc.), a community organisation which formed in response to the lack of resources and support available to Urana.
She believes the council needs to go into administration to figure out what went wrong and find a way to fix it properly.
One business owner, who preferred to remain anonymous, said amalgamation of the shires was virtually impossible because of the geographical differences between the towns, and given the choice would vote to demerge.
"Corowa, Howlong and Mulwala are all relatively close together and close to the river, whereas Urana is an hour away from the river and out in the middle of nowhere," they said.
"Although this has been raised before and nothing has happened; nothing has changed."
Michelle Forrester manages Urana Take Away and is part of the Unified Community Action Network (ICAN Inc.), which formed in response to the lack of resources and support available to Urana.
The numbers weren’t there
In his 2023 report, Advantages and Disadvantages of Amalgamation and Federation Shire’s Financial Sustainability Journey, Dr Joseph Drew et al called the proposal to merge the two shires “negligent” and said it was hard to understand how it might have merited serious consideration.
The report said savings of $41 million over 20 years were never achievable.
“Indeed, no rigorous evidence was ever put forward to substantiate the projected savings, and it should have been very obvious to those conducting boundary deliberations that most assumptions were implausible…” the report said.
“The community is now faced with the injustice of having to pay for the mistakes of people who ought to have done better – through higher taxes and likely lower services.
“Entire communities have been effectively disenfranchised by the destructive amalgamation.
“In simple terms, the Council is too large to be run with an acceptable level of technical efficiency.”
David Fahey put it simply as well.
“Corowa was a financial basket case, and we were a quick fix,” he said.
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