To me it is very apparent that there is no future for Dungog Shire Council.  The general manager has repeatedly said that the council is not financially sustainable and cannot meet key indicators of the Fit for the Future programme, whilst the mayor continues to pursue the argument that others are worse off financially than Dungog and that there are alternates to amalgamation.

The money on offer from the State Government to assist an amalgamation may well be inadequate but if it is then surely there should be vigorous lobbying to ensure that it is as adequate as possible.

To do nothing, as appears to be what is happening at the moment, must ultimately lead to being forced to accept an outcome that is perhaps not the best outcome for the community.

 Let us all accept that amalgamation is inevitable and become proactive to bring about the best possible outcome.

Some of the possible outcomes that come to my mind are:

* the whole Dungog Local Government Area amalgamates with Maitland;

* Paterson and Gresford (the Paterson River Valley) amalgamate with Maitland; and Dungog and Clarence Town (the Williams River Valley) amalgamate with Port Stephens;

* Paterson amalgamates with Maitland, Gresford with Singleton and Dungog and Clarence Town with Port Stephens.

It is no response to say that Port Stephens, Singleton or Maitland do not want Dungog.

They need to be convinced of the benefits of having all or part of Dungog Local Government Area and our civic leaders should be actively doing this.

 If necessary, experts should be engaged to put forward a well constructed argument for the desired outcome.

Whilst some have suggested that Dungog and Gloucester should be amalgamated I see no benefit in putting two “lame ducks” together. 

Gloucester surely has other options with Great Lakes Council and the City of Greater Taree.

Amalgamation of local government areas is not a new concept.  In recent years in close proximity to Dungog the local government areas of Patrick Plains and Singleton became Singleton Council; Muswellbrook Municipal Council and Denman Shire became Muswellbrook Council; Scone, Murrurundi and Merriwa became Upper Hunter Council; and Taree, Wingham and Manning Shire became the City of Greater Taree, just to name a few.

The issue is perhaps put in perspective when one looks at the Dungog Chronicle over the years. 

On September 13, 1952 the paper reported that “A move by some 70 town residents urging  the amalgamation of the Shire and Dungog Municipality into a united area as a Shire was very strongly opposed by Councillors at last Tuesday‘s meeting of Wallarobba Shire Council.”

As we all know the amalgamation ultimately went ahead.

On February 20, 1957 the paper reported “The future of Dungog from a Local Government point of view is in the balance.

“This is because the Electricity Authority proposes to put under one control all the electricity undertakings that service Newcastle, Maitland, Cessnock, Lake Macquarie, Dungog and the Shires of Port Stephens, Wallarobba, Stroud and Gloucester.”

It would appear from this that the future of Dungog Council has been in the balance for at least 57 years.  Surely it is time to look for a solution to the problem.

On June 23, 1962 the Chronicle reported “Ratepayers in “C” Riding of the Dungog Shire will forward a petition to the Minister for Local Government, Mr P. D. Hills, requesting him to approve the transfer of “C” Riding from the Dungog Shire and add it to Patrick Plains shire.”

Maybe they had the right idea.  Are the same views held today?

Let us all work to achieving the best possible outcome and not merely adopt an ostrich approach hoping that it will go away – because it will not.