THE latest government inquiry into the potential demerger of Cootamundra-Gundagai Regional Council has been labelled a "total disaster" by outraged residents.
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For a second time, the Local Government Boundaries Commission is inviting members of the public to make submissions ahead of four public hearings to be held in the region towards the end of April.
The LGBC's previous inquiry in 2020 found that a "substantial majority" of residents in both the Gundagai and Cootamundra shires supported overturning 2016's forced amalgamation.
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The chairman of Gundagai's Council in Exile group, Dr Paul Mara, called the new public inquiry a "sick joke" and said the LGBC should have a clear understanding of how residents feel by now.
"It's almost torture what they're doing to the communities by having us go through this process again," he said.
"We know what the public wants, and this is just dragging the people of Cootamundra and Gundagai into another bureaucratic exercise."
During the lengthy 2020 public inquiry, some 263 Gundagai and Cootamundra residents spoke at or attended hearings held in the region, and 1224 written submissions were received by the commission.
Dr Mara expressed concern that some residents may feel too discouraged to participate in the process this time around.
"They haven't listened to us on four or five occasions in the past ... they didn't listen to us when the Boundaries Commission had their last set of inquiries," he said.
"The government hasn't shown any good faith in this matter right from the very beginning and it's about time that they did."
Cootamundra-Gundagai Regional Council mayor Charlie Sheahan agreed that communities have made their voices very clear on the matter and understood the attitudes of outraged residents.
Councillor Sheahan contacted the Boundaries Commission chairman Bob Sendt to ask why a second inquiry was necessary and was told it was a statutory requirement of the Local Government Act 1993.
"It's like reinventing the wheel, but anyway, he [Mr Sendt] said, 'that's the procedure, and that's the way it's been spelt out', so they've got to go through public inquiries again," he said.
"We don't have to waste too much time about facts and figures, those aspects have been well and truly covered.
"I'd like this community to put forward the social impact of this merger, and the greater division that it has caused between friends and two former communities."
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