They were part of an estimated 300-strong crowd of Shellharbour residents who gathered at Reddall Reserve at Lake Illawarra on Saturday afternoon to protest against the NSW Government plans to merge Wollongong and Shellharbour councils.

However, what sets Mr Cox apart from most people at the rally is he stands to be affected two-fold if the plans to merge the two councils goes ahead; not only is he a resident in the Shellharbour LGA, but he also works for the council in its IT department.

“I’ve been working there for three years now and yeah, I could lose my job if the councils come together, it’s definitely a possibility,” he said.

“But I’m here today as a resident though, because I want to help make people aware of what’s happening.

“Kiama seems to have a lot of support from its residents, but I don’t think people in Shellharbour realise how many services could be cut if we amalgamate with Wollongong.

“I think Wollongong’s southern suburbs are already largely forgotten by the council and we’ll just become another southern suburb to them if we’re forced to merge.”

Several politicians addressed the rally, including Kiama state MP Gareth Ward, who received a lukewarm reception from the crowd, especially after saying he was not against local government reform.

However, he went on to say he failed to see how the same argument being made for mergers in Sydney could be used in the Illawarra.

He urged residents to make submissions to the government voicing their position on the plans.

One resident sure to put pen to paper is the organiser of Saturday’s rally, John Davey.

A self-described “irate” resident, Mr Davey said he hoped the protest would serve as a warning to the government that Shellharbour residents would fight against the changes.

“We’re very unhappy with the prospects of losing our sense of community, our history and our identity, and having our aspirations for the future being consumed into Wollongong council,” he said.

“This is a forced merger...and in any forced merger this size there are the victors and there are the vanquished, and we feel we’ll become the poor southern relations on the southern rump of Wollongong City Council.”

Mr Davey rejected the government’s reasoning behind the merger plans – improved services, achieving economies of scale, improving infrastructure and saving through job cuts – saying it just didn’t add up.

“Shellharbour already has some of the highest unemployment figures in the state, so how does further unemployment assist us?” he said.