Shellharbour Mayor Marianne Saliba has reacted angrily to a state government plan that would see her council merge with it northern neighbour. 

Shellharbour City councillors and staff had been enjoying a Christmas get-together on Friday morning, but as news surfaced about the merger plan, their festive mood quickly changed.  

“I’m absolutely stunned,” Cr Saliba said. 

“The state government has seen fit to deliver this very, very nasty Christmas present to the staff of both Wollongong and Shellharbour councils.

“It’s a very, very bitter pill to swallow. Imagine, right before Christmas, the uncertainty about their employment, their prospects for the future. 

The sense of unease was echoed by Wollongong Lord Mayor Gordon Bradbery, who conceded he had been preparing for a merger.

“There was a 50:50 chance either way,” Cr Bradbery said. “I just feel sorry for the people of Wollongong, in as much that we’ve worked hard these past four years to get things back in order,” 

“Here we are, having ticked all the boxes, and now we’re being forced into an amalgamation.

“I don’t know what the financial implications of that are, even though they [the government] have said it’s to our benefit I’d like to see the finer detail.”

Both mayors expressed disappointment that the formation of the pilot Illawarra Joint Organisation of Councils – made up of Wollongong, Shellharbour, Kiama and Shoalhaven councils – effectively meant nothing.

“We put a lot of time and resources into that … and there was a really great collaborative relationship between the four councils already, why did this [merger] need to happen?,” Cr Bradbery asked. 

Cr Saliba said the people of Shellharbour didn’t want amalgamations.

“They’ve made it very clear to me, over and over again, they are very happy with the way the city is,” she said. 

“We’ve watched this city grow from the third oldest municipality in NSW to the youngest city in NSW and here we are now being forced out of existence.”