I NOTE in correspondence to Council earlier this month, the Boundaries Commission are proceeding with the appointment of an investigator, to undertake an inquiry into the Town of Gawler’s boundary reform proposal.
I understood from the recent Annual Business Plan, as reported in The Bunyip on July 4, 2023, the Town of Gawler decided not to fund the inquiry.
But yet here we are, only a couple of months later, with the Boundaries Commission advising Council it will appoint an investigator.
So the obvious questions here are: 1. Who is paying for the appointment of the investigator?
2. If the Town of Gawler is not paying for the investigator (at least not this financial year), someone must be.
If it isn’t the Town of Gawler, then it must be the State Government.
If that is the case, why is the State Government involving itself in this proposal?
As a resident of Hewett and a Councillor, I have previously voiced my opposition to this proposal.
I have commenced a petition which in only in a few days, already has over 100 signatures and is growing daily.
The Hewett and Gawler Belt residents I have spoken with in the overwhelming majority are against the proposal.
I note in his letter to The Bunyip on March 12, 2023, Barossa Mayor Bim Lange notes 74 per cent of Barossa residents are against it from a Concordia perspective.
The only people who seem to be in favour of it are Gawler Mayor Karen Redman and a minority of the Town of Gawler Council Chamber.
So that being the case, why is this proposal now progressing with the appointment of an investigator?
I will continue to advocate against this proposal because I don’t support it personally, the reasoning for it doesn’t stack up and I believe that is what the majority of people who elected me expect.
My views are my own and not those of Light Regional Council Councillor Michael Phillips-Ryder, Hewett
