“I was proud to stand with people from all over Eden-Monaro who came to Queanbeyan to demand the NSW Government put an end to their ill-considered forced council merger process.

“It has been clear for a long time that people from all across NSW will not accept the forced merging of their councils. They don’t accept democracy being taken away from their community and they don’t accept the government’s handpicked, unelected administrators.

“These forced mergers were first inflicted on our community by the Sydney-centric Baird government which refused to listen to rural and regional NSW on a range of issues.

“Sadly, a change of leadership in the NSW state government has not changed anything. No one in the NSW government seems to know what is happening with the botched merger process and the people in rural and regional NSW remain in a state of bewilderment.

“In response, the community came to Queanbeyan today to send a clear message to the NSW Liberals and Nationals. No Forced Mergers. The NSW government created this mess, now they have to sort it out,” Dr Kelly said.