Premier Daniel Andrews visited Sunbury today where he defended the review of the town’s planned secession from Hume.
Speaking at Sunbury College, where he was making a $70,000 funding announcement, Mr Andrews rejected claims that a review into Sunbury’s planned separation from Hume was a sham.
He told Star Weekly the government was serious about the review and would wait for a report from the auditors, former Supreme Court judge Frank Vincent and Brimbank administrator John Watson, before making any decisions.
Opposition leader Matthew Guy and Western Metropolitan Liberal MP Bernie Finn have described the audit as a hoax, saying they hold out little hope that an independent Sunbury will go ahead.
Mr Andrews said claims the result had been predetermined were completely false.
He said the government didn’t want the lives of Sunbury or Hume residents to be adversely affected by the planned split.
‘‘We have to look at it and say, what’s the impact?,’’ Mr Andrews said.
‘‘I don’t think anyone in Sunbury wants to see services compromised and jobs gone.’’
Mr Andrews said the government would act quickly on the auditors’ report, which he expected ‘‘quite soon’’.
The auditors have promised to report back to Local Government Minister Natalie Hutchins before August 31.
‘‘We won’t waste any time,’’ Mr Andrews said.
Asked if the government would respect the result of a compulsory vote, should it be among the auditors’ recommendations, Mr Andrews said he didn’t want to preempt their work.
‘‘It’s a perfectly legitimate question, but let’s see what the report shows.’’
Sunbury Labor MP Josh Bull said last month’s public meeting proved people were still confused by the non-compulsory 2013 vote which paved the way for the former Liberal government’s decision to gazette papers for a Sunbury City Council.
‘‘The only hoax in this whole process was how the Liberals actually conducted the vote,’’ Mr Bull said.
‘‘There was a total lack of information.’’
Mr Finn told State Parliament that Labor had ‘‘betrayed’’ Sunbury.
He claimed an ASU representative at last month’s meeting told him: ‘‘The Sunbury council is dead, brother. There is no way a Labor government will allow this to go ahead.’’
‘‘I ask the minister [Ms Hutchins] to guarantee that the government is serious about establishing the Sunbury council because, quite frankly, nobody in Sunbury believes that it is.’’
