The suspicious and sceptical of political motives and politicking when it comes to sometimes-suspect government decisions will not be easily convinced that last week’s announcements of the latest local government mergers are the last, or the least of some worries.

Just a month after the second inquiry/examination of council mergers involving, among them, Walcha, Armidale Dumaresq, Uralla and Guyra, and a recommendation from a government-appointed delegate for their amalgamation, Walcha seemingly escapes the hangman, but Armidale and Guyra are hung and halved.

Despite plenty of confusion – not least among the councils themselves – it appears that the four-way merger proposal is still on the table. And that’s worrying when you’ve got a federal election looming and a state government geared to getting rid of troublesome and too-troubled political entities in metropolitan areas.

The heated arguments and debate have been compounded by some political posturing. Federal member Barnaby Joyce claimed – and was acknowledged – initially as the talking head to help save Walcha. 

Elsewhere in his electorate, the angst was even more wrought.

 At Guyra, where local Liberal MP,Scot MacDonald, was almost a lone voice extolling the virtues of amalgamation for his hometown, he’s been declared “persona non grata” by the former mayor and questions were raised over why Barnaby didn’t go into bat for the tomato town.

Comparisons have been drawn of the Fit for the Future criteria of Walcha and Guyra, particularly in relation to budgets and scale and capacity, including sustainability. 

Guyra is  one-and-a-half times the size of Walcha in population. It is riding a cusp of agricultural growth. Walcha is on a sliding scale in the number of people living in its shire.

One is seen as fit for a marriage, the other remains single.

The political fallout hasn’t finished either. 

While Kevin Anderson and Adam Marshall fought hard for their bits of the electorate – on the basis of what their communities told them they wanted – one gets a win, the other is gutted. 

The MLC Scot MacDonald is on one side of the political fence to his Armidale-based Coalition colleague and there’s obviously strained relations now.

Tensions will continue and the post-election landscape will be even more interesting. 

Don’t for one moment think amalgamations – even for other struggling North West councils – are done and dusted.

It seems inexplicable that this will be the final makeup.