Confronted with jeers, boos and heckles, the Baird government doubled down this week on its determination to merge councils across Sydney.
Local Government Minister Paul Toole told a crowd of angry councillors at the Local Government NSW annual conference on Tuesday that they could either be part of the process or "deprive your communities of the benefits of change".
Mr Toole, who was at one stage completely drowned out by the crowd, told the event he was disappointed only nine of the state's 152 councils had agreed to merge.
Many councils privately backed the state government's Fit for the Future reform process, he told the room, "as long as it doesn't involve them or they don't have to publicly support it".
"And by the way, I even had some people come up to me and said, 'minister, consider me, I'll be the administrator for this area,' " Mr Toole said, to guffaws and jeers.
Just as Premier Mike Baird had done in front of a hostile conference crowd a day earlier, the former Bathurst mayor called out as "not true" claims by anti-merger campaigns that rates would rise and services would be wound back as a result of amalgamations.
"If your council chooses to merge, every community service in the district will not magically disappear overnight, and your local identity will not dissolve," Mr Toole said. "And I can tell you that because I've been a mayor of a merged council."
The conference, which has been dominated by talk of amalgamations, comes just days before the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal is due to hand the government a report setting out whether councils are "fit" or "unfit" as merged groups or individual councils.
Mr Toole, who has not ruled out forced amalgamations, told the audience that following a final round of consultation, "every council in NSW will know where it stands before the end of the year".
"The final chance to respond is not an invitation for those that are not fit to argue that they are," he said.
"It's a final chance to make the decision that's in the best long term interest of your community."
The minister also highlighted imminent changes to councillor misconduct laws. He said "lines on a map" were of less concern to ratepayers than being well served by their council, and many wanted him to fix a system that allowed "discord and the shenanigans".
"They're fed up with elected officials who thumb their nose at the community while continuing to enjoy the privilege of office," Mr Toole said.
"And you know something? I agree with them."
But Shadow Local Government Minister Peter Primrose told the audience in his address that "I am not aware of any rallies or public meetings that have been organised anywhere by citizens demanding that their councils be forcibly amalgamated".
"That has to tell you something about the public sentiment," Mr Primrose said
Several councillors used the question and answer session that followed Mr Toole's speech to voice their anger at the push for fewer councils.
Wyong councillor Greg Best questioned whether "mega councils" would ultimately make the state government redundant.
"Go hard, son, because at the end of the day we don't need the state government, we're over-governed, we've had a gutful," Cr Best said.
