'Hands Off Tasman' launches petition against amalgamation

September 20th, 2010
[Press release]

A Tasman group has struck back at the amalgamation petition with its own "Hands Off Tasman" petition launched today. Spokesman Paul Searancke says "this is the first opportunity for those in opposition to the Aldo Miccio Amalgamation petition to have their say".

"The Local Government Commission is calling for submissions on the proposal for the union of Nelson City and Tasman District and the petition is just one way that the people of Tasman and Nelson can have their say.

"As can be clearly seen in the information released by the Local Government Commission, they did not receive a proposal for 'a fair independent review of options', 'an amalgamation study petition', 'an independent financial analysis to review the costs and benefits' or even 'a review of all governance options'," says Searancke.

"They received a petition to look into amalgamation, as the only option. The Local Government Commission will not, for example, look into splitting up the existing Councils so that there may be separate Golden Bay or Motueka Councils once again, nor will they look into Nelson, Tasman and Marlborough having one regional council again. They will look at the status quo and amalgamation.

"The information presented to the public on the petition to form a union of the Nelson and Tasman Councils has been quite misleading. Statements such as 'it will be at no cost to the ratepayers', are simply incorrect. We want the public to be able to make an informed choice on their representation options, when and if they want a review of the current Council structures.

"That being said, central government are intending to undertake a nationwide review of local government representation next year and Rodney Hide has repeatedly requested that Councils do not proceed with any ad hoc proposals, but rather wait until this review has been conducted."

In addition to signing the petition, the "Hands Off Tasman" group are encouraging ratepayers and residents to put their own submissions forward. For more information go to the Commission's website: www.lgc.govt.nz and click 'current proposal', or the group have a blog at www.handsofftasman.blogspot.com where people can download the petition, find out where the petition is available or get more information.

[Editor's note: Motueka Online also has a discussion forum thread on the amalgamation issue, which you can read and contribute to here]

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