Rural Lands Protection Board Amalgamations

The Hon. R. T. M. BULL (Deputy Leader of the Opposition) [7.03 p.m.]: I raise an issue with which a number of honourable members may be familiar; the forced amalgamations of some rural lands protection boards, which are occurring across the State. Honourable members may be aware that
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the Minister for Agriculture, the Hon. Richard Amery, on the advice of the Rural Lands Protection Board State Council, has forced amalgamations between Tenterfield and Glen Innes, Mudgee and Merriwa, and parts of Braidwood with Bega, against the wishes of the ratepayers.

I can understand the political process whereby the Minister took advice from the Rural Lands Protection Board State Council, and this is certainly not a hatchet job on the Government or the Minister. I point out that the process that has been arrived at, with the State council giving advice to the Minister without the support of the local boards and the ratepayers, led to a great deal of angst and bitterness and unfortunate circumstances.

That angst has especially arisen among the Merriwa people. They have held a large public rally and public meetings and have sent numerous deputations to the Minister and the Rural Lands Protection Board State Council. They believe that they fulfil the requirements that the Minister has set out for rural lands protection boards to continue individually, without being amalgamated. Yet, unfortunately, the State council recommended that they be amalgamated with Mudgee. Unfortunately, the Minister has acceded to the request of the State council. The Minister had an option to revisit that decision, to question the Rural Lands Protection Board State Council about this amalgamation. It is obvious that there is no local support for the amalgamation and, as I said, the amalgamation has created an enormous amount of bitterness which will reflect on the Minister and the State council.

The Government has made a great play about rural impact statements in respect of decisions affecting rural communities. On this occasion the Minister advised that a rural impact statement was provided to Cabinet before this decision was made. However, the impact statement was arrived at without local consultation, which is a great pity. If the Government wants to be taken seriously on these rural impact statements, it will have to consult local communities about the impact of decisions. The Government should take into account the problems that rural communities are having because of decisions such as this. The Minister can still revisit his decision about these amalgamations, about which there is obvious bitterness. Of course there have been amalgamations with which the boards are quite happy. However, in several instances there has been a great deal of local bitterness, which is continuing.

Representatives of the communities will visit Sydney over the next couple of days to speak with anyone who will hear their case. If the Minister did the right thing and listened to the concerns of the local people, he could revisit his decision about amalgamations. It is unfortunate, as I said earlier, that he has accepted only the advice of the Rural Lands Protection Board State Council. However, on this occasion the State council has misread local concerns and local feelings. The town of Merriwa has, along with a number of towns of similar size, suffered from the withdrawal of services, the withdrawal of banks and the withdrawal of many other facilities that had been enjoyed over a long time. The community will suffer from the withdrawal of the services of a rural lands protection board in favour of the larger community of Mudgee. I urge the Minister to revisit the decision. I know he is facing a difficult time and a difficult situation. However, it is in his hands now; it is beyond the Rural Lands Protection Board State Council. Merriwa and Tenterfield are hurting over these decisions.