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Public criticism of Wollongong City Council’s citizens panel process continued to mount on Friday, with unions and community groups labelling it ‘‘alarming’’ and ‘‘shrouded in secrecy’’.
South Coast Labour Council secretary Arthur Rorris said the panel was ‘‘nothing more than a focus group’’, and should not have been given such a strong weighting in the council’s community engagement process.
‘‘Focus groups are just designed to give you an indication of what some people in the community feel,’’ he said.
‘‘But if the intention is to circumvent the democratic rights of all the other citizens in the city, or to give one group access to certain things and a role which is above that of other citizens, that’s where you run into problems.’’
He said the panel process had ‘‘side-stepped democracy’’ because members were unaccountable to other residents.
Mr Rorris called on the council to start its financial sustainability review again, by holding a series of public meetings that did not exclude other residents from the process.
Wollongong’s eight neighbourhood forums voiced similar concerns, submitting a joint resolution to the council asking that it hold public meetings in each of the city’s three wards.
The forums also asked the council to allow a 28-day period for the public to respond due to the ‘‘vagueness’’ of many recommendations.
‘‘The proposed cuts to services, closure of facilities, reduction in public parks/playgrounds, operational cuts and rate hike, as highlighted in the citizens panel report, has caused considerable alarm, confusion and questioning of the implications of the proposed measures,’’ the forum members said in their request.
‘‘As the deliberations... of the citizens panel were conducted in private, Wollongong City Council’s neighbourhood forums representatives... request that the council holds a series of public meetings to explain [its impacts].’’
Additionally, the United Services Union – which represents council staff – yesterday announced plans for a public rally against the panel’s recommendations at Civic Plaza next Friday.
Members of community organisations, pensioner and superannuant associations and sporting clubs, as well as all elected councillors and the Lord Mayor, are invited to attend.
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