The New South Wales government is expected to today retreat from what the Local Government Association of NSW has described as a controversial and damaging policy of forced council amalgamations.

The association’s president, Keith Rhoades, has heaped praised on the new premier, Gladys Berejiklian, for the decision and sought to characterise it as a “change of mind” from a new leader, not a backflip by the NSW government.

Rhoades said he had been in extensive consultation with the state government on Wednesday over the policy, which has seen 20 new councils created, with another 11 still to come.

He said he expected the NSW government would make an announcement on council amalgamations today, after cabinet meets for the first time since Berejiklian succeeded Mike Baird as premier last week.

He said the government had decided not to push ahead with any of the pending council mergers.

Councils that have already been merged would be given the chance to vote on their future, through a plebiscite, he said.

“I can’t pre-empt what cabinet is going to do but I’m feeling comfortable following extensive discussions yesterday,” Rhoades told Guardian Australia. “I think that they realise that the policy originally was wrong because it did not include any consultation with the communities in the affected areas of the then councils.

“It was just a decision by the [former] premier that that’s what he wanted to do. Ms Berejiklian is taking a more consultative approach … and I commend her for, when she was elected two weeks ago, saying that she would listen to local communities,” he said.

The amalgamation of NSW councils, led to sustained criticism of the state government, particularly over its failure to consult with local communities before announcing the plan.

The mergers proved particularly unpopular in regional areas, leading to a backlash against the Nationals, which is thought to have cost them the previously safe seat of Orange in last year’s byelection.

The government is now facing two byelections, one in Baird’s seat of Manly and another in the safer North Shore electorate of the former health minister Jillian Skinner.

The pressure on the Nationals caused the party’s leader, John Barilaro, to issue an ultimatum last month. He said the Nationals would not allow any more council mergers in the bush and pledged that his party would no longer “be taken for granted”.



Berejiklian, upon becoming premier, immediately pledged to listen to the community, particularly to regional NSW.



She announced her new cabinet in the town of Queanbeyan, near the NSW-ACT border, a move clearly aimed at bolstering the government’s support in regional seats.

Rhoades said Berejiklian’s consultative approach was to be commended.

“That’s what people want to see, this shows you the price you can pay when you do not listen to communities,” he said.

Opposition leader Luke Foley said the government was in disarray over the policy, and accused Barilaro of leaking news of the backdown to the media.

“This is a government at war with itself. We have leaks from Ms Berejiklian’s most senior cabinet colleagues designed to force her hand,” Foley said.

“This is a government that stands divided and frankly it’s shambolic. No one knows what the government’s policy is.”

