Amalgamation may become issue in General Election

Press, 4 April 1987, Page 9

Amalgamation may become issue in General Election

By

KAY FORRESTER

Amalgamation could become an issue in September’s General Election if 30 local authorities have their way. The Communities Against Forced Amalgamation New Zealand group of local bodies plans to keep the issue before the public, in spite of what it sees as a deliberate attempt by the Local Government Commission to play down contentious mergers. The group claims the Government has told the commission to postpone forced amalgamation until after the General Election, a suggestion rejected by the commission’s chairman.

The chairman, Mr Brian Elwood, denied that the commission had been told to put amalgamation on the back burner until after the election because it was politically sensitive.

He scoffed at what he called speculation that the Government wanted “the heat taken off’ in the lead up to the election. The Mayor of Riccarton, Mr Dick Harrington, said yesterday that he believed the Cabinet did not want the commission

“arousing rebellion” while it was attempting to get re-elected. . Mr Harrington is the Canterbury - Westland chairman of C.A.F.A.N.Z. The group of 30 authorities was formed to coordinate a campaign against forced amalgamation. Mr Harrington said he believed a significant policy announcement to be made by Mr Elwood at next week’s Municipal Association l conference would be that the commission would “slow up” its push for local body mergers because the Government did not want amalgamation to become an election issue. "Absolutely no,” was Mr Elwood’s reaction. The policy announcement had nothing to do with instructions from the Government, he said. The Government had given the commission no directions. Did the announcement have anything to do with the General Election? “It could have.” Were amalgamations to be shelved until after the election? “Goodness me, no ... we (the commission) have

been flat out. Even people in local government would be surprised at the volume of work the commission has got through.” Will the Christchurch amalgamation go ahead before the election? "You will have to wait for the policy announcement.” The policy would be a general statement, rather than specific to particular mergers proposed, he said. He was sure the announcement would be misinterpreted by some. It was “an intelligent attempt by a practical commission to assess the situation,” he said. There were a number of factors that made an assessment necessary. These included the state of local government electoral rolls. “We want to assess things in terms of changed circumstances,” Mr Elwood said. Mr Harrington said C.A.F.A.N.Z. was determined to make the activities of the commission an election issue. Voting out the present Government might be the only way to prevent amalgamation, he said.