The South Australian Liberals say the Mount Gambier and Grant councils were blindsided by a swift move by the Malinauskas Labor government to put amalgamation of the neighbouring councils on the table.
Shadow Local Government Minister Sam Telfer said he'd spoken with council representatives who had the 'thought bubble of a policy position the premier is sticking by ...foisted upon them':
"The councils down there were blindsided. They didn't have the undertaking this was going to be happening and straight away they were on the phone to me saying 'Where is this coming from? there isn't a significant grassroots push for this to happen.'
"Regional leaders and the local government community all around the state have been asking what is the reasoning behind this, where is the justification, what does this mean for the people of our region, the Eyre Peninsula, the South East, the Riverland?
"I'm supportive of council boundary reform and the potential to look at things like amalgamation if that is what the community wants, and it is going to be effective for community representation and the ratepayers themselves."
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