About 100 people attended the meeting at Concord RSL to hear the major parties' views on the State Government’s plans for local government and how it would impact Canada Bay.
“The key issue at the meeting was our community asking what they can do to stop Canada Bay being forced to merge with Ashfield, Burwood, Leichhardt, Marrickville and Strathfield,” Mayor Tsirekas said.
“They want a voice and they want to know what the State Government’s position is. Community members are concerned they have not heard from the State Government about why they are proposing an inner west mega-council.
“We even had an eight-year-old girl stand up and plead for our Canada Bay community to stay together and stay as it is. That was pretty powerful.”
Mayor Tsirekas said the public meeting outlined the strong financial position of the City of Canada Bay and how that would be eroded if forced to merge.
He also said our sporting groups, community groups and clubs would be “swallowed up” under an inner west mega-council.
“We have arguably some of the best sporting grounds and community facilities in Sydney. We have groups knocking on our door to use these facilities. Our own community takes precedence at the moment but this will all change if we are forced to merge.”
Some of the questions and issues raised by residents last night included:
Mayor Tsirekas also urged the community to get involved in this important debate about the future of Canada Bay and to ask our State members and the Government to declare that there will be No Forced Amalgamations before next week’s State election.
"After the election it may be too late. You need to make your voice heard now to save Canada Bay," he said.
The meeting was also attended by Labor Candidate for Drummoyne Jason Khoury and Greens candidate for Drummoyne Alice Mantel. The Liberal member for Drummoyne John Sidoti, MP did not attend the meeting. A representative from Morrison & Low, who prepared an independent study for five of the six inner west councils, also attended to talk about the findings of the report.
Both the Labor and Green candidates declared their parties were opposed to forced amalgamations. Mr Sidoti presented a written statement outlining the State Government’s commitment to local government reform and highlighting the Fit for The Future program.
To find out more about proposed State Government amalgamations and to view the Morrison Low report, go to our website and click on in the popular links section.
We also encourage our community to email us at to provide feedback.