Residents in the former Urana Shire feel underrepresented by Federation Council, which has rejected two recommendations designed to resolve the issue.
Federation Council has formally voted down proposals to expand councillor numbers or explore a tiered local government system, despite mounting concerns over the underrepresentation of former Urana Shire residents.
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The decision follows recommendations from a 2022 University of Newcastle review, which warned of severe political disenfranchisement in the region following the 2016 forced amalgamation.
The review suggested expanding the council from nine to 12 seats or investigating a tiered governance framework to restore geographic balance.
However, at its August meeting, council voted 8–1 to abandon both recommendations, concluding they offered no guarantee of equal representation.
Cr Sue Wearne moved a new motion to refuse both recommendations saying that a change to 12 councillors did not guarantee representation to Urana.
“It goes to the people who nominate,” Cr Wearne said.
“We manage very well now … pushing ahead we need to acknowledge that time has passed and we as a council represent the entire council area.”
Supporting the motion, Cr Derek Schoen cautioned against returning to a "parochial system," and Cr Richard Nixon also defended current operations.
"I don’t see outlying villages suffer any great lack of representation, results, or money being spent there,” Cr Nixon said.
“It’s run as one, and it should stay like that."
An official Council poll, held in conjunction with the September 2024 council elections, showed 76.6 per cent of voters felt that forced amalgamation was a mistake, 84.13 per cent agreed the State Government should compensate for ongoing costs, and 68.6 per cent supported guaranteed representation for the former Urana Shire, which has about 850 voters, about 8.5 per cent of the electorate.
A recent decision saw local council office hours in Urana cut from five days to three and former Urana Shire and Federation Council mayor, Cr Pat Bourke said the slide would continue.
Cr Bourke was the sole vote against the motion, strongly critical of councillors for “shutting the door”.
“At the last election the polls said it was a mistake, it was wrong,” Cr Bourke said.
“I’ve challenged every councillor in this room to put their hand up if they’d been to Urana since the election and no-one put up their hand.
“It is not this council’s decision; it’s the people’s decision.”
Council office hours in Urana have been cut from five days to three.
Mayor Cheryl Cook reminded Cr Bourke that the motion to be decided by the meeting was about whether to accept and progress the two recommendations.
She added that increased representation for Urana needed residents there to put their hand up to stand.
Her view was supported by Deputy Mayor, Rowena Black who said she was “absolutely sympathetic” to the Urana people and their feeling of watered down representation.
Cr Black also encouraged anyone from Urana or other outlying communities to stand.
“When you are from that community you understand the intricacies of how a community works and you can advocate for that,” she said.
Cr Black agreed that the two options on the table were not the right ones to improve representation, but she said taking them away didn’t mean everything was off the table.
“And it doesn’t mean we are not willing to have discussions about other options,” she said.
