Community leaders have urged the state government to finally decide whether Sunbury will split from Hume.
Transition auditors John Watson and Frank Vincent were expected to present their report and recommendations to Local Government Minister Natalie Hutchins yesterday.
The pair were appointed by the Labor government in March with a brief to review the separation processes, after the former Liberal government gazetted formal notices that a new Sunbury council would start on July 1 this year.
But the split was put on hold after Ms Hutchins said too many questions remained unanswered.
A government spokeswoman said the transition auditors were on track to deliver their report by the August 31 deadline.
‘‘The government will consider the report and make it public later this year,’’ the minister said.
Council chief executive Domenic Isola said the people of Hume had been waiting a long time and needed to know.
‘‘Now that the work has been completed, we urge the state government to make a decision on the issue so our community can plan for the future with more certainty,’’ he said.
Hume’s Sunbury-based councillor, Ann Potter, agreed.
‘‘I understand they have to absorb the report, but the community, the council … we all need to know,’’ she said. ‘‘I would hope they would do it sooner rather than later.’’
Fellow Hume councillor and Sunbury resident Jack Medcraft said he was sick of delays. ‘‘This has been the greatest denial of natural democracy I’ve ever seen,’’ he said. ‘‘No one knows what’s going on.’’
Sunbury Residents Association president Bernie O’Farrell said people had been kept waiting long enough.
‘‘Our expectation has always been that it would be released shortly after it was received,’’ he said. ‘‘The entire exercise is unnecessary.
“All they’ve done is go over the reports, which the previous government was satisfied showed it [a stand alone Sunbury council] was viable. They said they would honour the gazettal. They went back on that,’’ Mr O’Farrell said.
Visiting Sunbury earlier this month, Premier Daniel Andrews rejected claims the audit process was a sham.
He told Star Weekly the government was serious about the review, and would wait for the report before making any decisions.
Opposition leader Matthew Guy and Western Metropolitan Liberal MP Bernie Finn have described the audit as a hoax, saying they held out little hope that an independent Sunbury would go ahead.
Mr Andrews said the government would act quickly on the auditors’ report.
