Buoyed by the legal triumph of Ku-ring-gai council against the NSW government's forced merger policy, Randwick council has made a belated decision to join the anti-merger fight.
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Lawyers formally briefed Randwick City Council on its legal options last week, as it prepares to file a legal challenge against its forced merger with Woollahra and Waverley councils.
This follows a closed extraordinary council meeting on May 9, in which the council voted to pursue legal action after Labor councillors Tony Bowen and Kathy Neilson sought urgent advice from Ian Davidson, SC over the council's renewed prospects for appeal.
At the time the councillors commissioned the advice, which they funded themselves, Woollahra council's High Court application had not been granted, meaning Randwick council faced imminent dissolution should it be rejected.
"No one was doing anything so we went and got our own advice and the council followed it," Cr Bowen said.
"I was extremely concerned because the Ku-ring-gai case clearly showed the process was flawed."
Mr Davidson advised the council that the Ku-ring-gai decision "plainly now suggests that Randwick could challenge the merger proposal" along similar grounds as those successfully argued in Ku-ring-gai council's case.
In March, the NSW Court of Appeal upheld Ku-ring-gai Council's appeal against a forced merger with Hornsby council, finding major procedural problems with the merger process stemming from the government's decision to keep secret a KPMG report which it relied upon as justification for the merger.
Until now, Randwick council had accepted the state government's plan to merge the three eastern suburbs councils, leaving Woollahra to fight the proposal through the courts on its own.
Commenting on the backflip, Randwick Mayor Noel D'Souza said that the change in circumstances made it "prudent [that] we consider our options".
"Randwick Council's position has consistently been that we are financially viable and strong enough to stand alone," Mr D'Souza said in a statement last week.
Randwick's decision to join the legal fight comes one year after the NSW government unveiled its state-wide policy of forced mergers, which was met by instantaneous legal challenges from numerous councils.
The vote to pursue an 11th-hour appeal was not unanimous, and was met with a rescission motion lodged by Liberal councillors in a bid to derail the process.
However, the motion was abandoned on May 12 after Woollahra won the right to appeal the merger in the High Court.
With Randwick entering the fray, the Berejiklian government is now fighting seven anti-merger challenges through the courts.
