JOB losses, service reduction and boundaries were top of the agenda at the Local Land Services (LLS) meeting held in Hay this week.
More than 80 landholders, residents and government employees turned out from Ivanhoe, Lockhart and Hillston for one of the town’s best attended meetings of recent years.
At the seventh town in the LLS roadshow, stakeholder reference panel chairman Dr John Keniry said job losses and service reduction had become common themes.
But it was the issue of boundaries which drew some of the strongest criticism, with many saying the proposed area of South-West Riverina was too large and it would be more appropriate for the zones to run north and south.
Balranald Shire mayor Steve O’Halloran was emphatic in his desire for a smaller zone and described his area as one of the cleanest areas in terms of animal health and disease.
He slammed the idea of classifying Balranald and Albury in the same zone and said they not only had different terrain and issues, but it would be near impossible for staff to deliver services across that distance.
According to Dr Keniry, “at the end of the day, the decision will largely reflect what the community wants, provided the number of LLS bodies doesn’t exceed 12”.
However, he admitted financial constraints had played and would continue to have a big role in determining zones.
“The problem is we have to end up with enough rates being collected in an area to make it viable so the further you run into the west, the sparser the population and the less money you have,” he said.
Regardless, farmers felt the zones were too large, including Clive Linnett, Ivanhoe, who supported LLS, provided there were not significant service cuts or job losses.
Meanwhile, those who walked out of the meeting dismissed the whole process as a fait accompli.
Mr Linnett serves as a Central Darling Shire councillor and knows too well the tyranny of distance.
“There’s got to be a physical constraint on the size of the divisions, from the service delivery point of view and also for the area the local representatives will have to travel for meetings,” he said.
Chair of the Hay-Balranald Landcare Network and farmer Ian Auldist, who strongly opposed the LLS establishment, was upset by the way he felt Dr Keniry dismissed his and other attendees’ questions or statements.
However, Murray Catchment Management Authority chair Alex Anthony, Moulamein, supported the proposed LLS but admitted it was a tight time frame for people who hadn’t been involved with the process like she had to give feedback to the reference panel.
