No council, no voice and no identity – that’s what 150 angry Guyra residents rallied against on Sunday.
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The protest saw residents wearing orange rally against the state government’s decision to uphold the 2016 merger between Armidale Dumaresq and Guyra Shire Councils – despite a recent move to halt any proposed council amalgamations from going ahead.
Guyra resident Rob Lenehan has run the charge on a statewide petition to disband the merger and said it had already gathered around 5000 signatures.
“We haven’t got an official count from the Guyra area yet but I’m pretty sure we’re in excess of 1,600 … and 5000 all up,” he said.
“The idea of the rally was to back our petition and get the community to rally and decide what they want to do into the future with this fight.”
The rally was held outside the former Guyra Shire Council Chambers, where letters of support from Cabonne, Tumbarumba and other councils facing a similar predicament were read out.
The rally followed on from a meeting of more than 80 Guyra residents earlier this month to discuss the Premier’s announcement that the amalgamation between Armidale and Guyra would still go ahead.
“[The] announcement was some of the most devastating news Guyra has ever had,” Mr Lenehan said.
Guyra resident Gordon Youman spoke at the rally and said the efforts to disband the merger had the support of a number of communities down south.
“Think about the people down south, Arden, Holroyd, Cabonne, Gundagai, Gloucestor, Taree – they’re all behind us, they’re all in this network,” Mr Youman said.
“This was never tabled in Parliament, this was a stroke of a pen.
“The thing that’s so sad is that they never justified putting this [merger] forward … they just don’t listen.”
Mr Lenehan said the next step would be to continue pushing the petition which was released in January.
It is seeking 10,000 signatures before it is taken to the Minister.