‘Rockingham does not control China’: council split over climate change policy

Some City of Rockingham councillors have dismissed efforts to seek State and Federal government funding to combat the effects of climate change as “advocacy theatre” and “costly baloney”.

The council had been asked at its April 28 meeting to endorse the city’s response to the WA Local Government Association’s climate change advocacy position.

In 2012, the city signed WALGA’s climate change declaration and supported its advocacy position in 2018, albeit with some questions about how it could be used.

WALGA is now seeking funding and other support from the Federal and State governments to reduce emissions and address the impacts of climate change.

The Australian Local Government Association asked the Federal Government to create a $400 million per year local government fund in the lead-up to the release of its climate change report.

Rockingham staff had recommended the WALGA policy be supported as local government was responsible for the “immediate burdens” of impacts from climate change and dedicated resourcing was needed.

But the council vote on endorsing it was deadlocked at 6-6 before mayor Lorna Buchan used her casting vote to approve it.

Cr Peter Hudson said he was all for looking after the environment but the 2018 policy was “bewildering” and he could not support the new one as it was “vague and vacuous”.

“Some of the language ... to be quite frank, it sounds like it came from a first-year undergraduate university student essay,” he said.

“No one can tell me how much that’s going to cost. No one tells me what that looks practically in this paper.

“So I have some inherent scepticism around this, particularly given the exposure of the green dream, which our government even seems to realise now is a folly in many respects.”

Deputy mayor Robert Schmidt agreed the 2018 policy was “questionable” but the new one took a “moderate” approach.

Cr Ryan Robertson said he supported environmental management but signing up to a “broad ideological statement” and “net zero madness” went beyond the role of local government.

“From where I sit, local government should be focused on roads, rates, rubbish, parks, planning and delivering effective services to residents, and not acting as a secondary parliament making symbolic statements on the global climate policy,” he said.

“This is advocacy theatre. Rockingham is not setting global climate policy. We are not controlling China’s emissions and we are not controlling India’s coal plants.

“What we can do is manage our own coastlines properly, manage infrastructure properly and protect the ratepayer from unnecessary costs, and make the practical decisions based on real local risk, not political slogans.

“I would much prefer $400m to be spent building houses, fixing our local roads, building a new hospital.”

Ms Buchan said the fund being sought was a practical solution, not an ideological one.

“We will have a joined, single, stronger voice with which to advocate to State and Federal government for this funding,” she said.

Cr Dawn Jecks said the Local Government Act said councils had to plan for climate change.

“We’re not asking ratepayers for any money,” she said. “We’re ... looking to lobby the State Government and the Federal Government for funds for local governments, so local governments can look after their people.

‘We’ve got old people that can’t afford air-conditioning and need to go to the library in the hot days.

“I don’t know about anybody else, but I’ve noticed that our summers are getting hotter and the old people, they really get knocked with the heat.”

Cr David Rudman said there was “nothing like a bit of climate hysteria to frighten the gullible” and likened the policy to a Hans Christian Andersen pastiche.

“The only horror part I can see in this piece of fiction was the Australian Local Government Association requesting a $400m per year fund to be provided by the Australian government,” he said.

“I’m sure taxpayers will be ecstatic ... this costly baloney is a slap in the face to hardworking taxpayers and ratepayers everywhere.”

Cr Leigh Liley said people had been “gobbled up by climate change hysteria”.

“For every 10 people that advocate for climate change, there’s hundreds on the other side that can debunk a lot of the intellectual vacuousity of the environmental activists,” she said.

She questioned the worth of wind turbines — “we know the effects” — and said solar energy farms were “uneconomical” and taking up farming land.

A city report said it had worked to reduce the risks of climate change through measures such as its sustainability strategy and coastal hazard risk management and adaption plan.

Electric vehicles had also been added to its fleet.