Lessons from Australia enforce the need for one council for Otago, Leanne Mash writes.

The proposal for a Dunedin-Waitaki “Coastal Otago Council” (Opinion ODT 11.5.26) is useful because it starts the conversation and recognises the urgency of the moment, but lessons from across the Ditch suggest Otago should be thinking bigger.

With central government now forcing the question of amalgamation, Otago should not respond by carving itself into smaller political fragments. It should respond with one coherent, region-wide proposal: a single Otago unitary council incorporating Dunedin, Clutha, Central Otago, Queenstown Lakes, Waitaki and the current Otago Regional Council functions.

That is the cleaner, stronger and more future-focused model.

A Dunedin-Waitaki option may look attractive from a coastal and heritage perspective, but it risks creating an artificial split between coastal Otago and inland Otago. That is not how the region actually works.…