Important declaration
I was relieved to witness Bega Valley Council vote to keep the phrase "climate emergency" in their resilience strategy. The decision was deeply reassuring to my kids too.
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Along with the ACT Government and South Australia's Upper House, the Bega Valley is one of 60+ jurisdictions in Australia representing roughly six million people - about a quarter of our population - to formally acknowledge a climate emergency exists.
As a mother I have an obligation to demand governments stop enacting policies that destroy my kids' rights to a safe future. Focusing on individual actions like turning off the lights, as suggested by Cr Robyn Bain during the recent council meeting, is just a distraction.
One hundred companies are responsible for 71 per cent of global emissions, and governments are the ones in the position to regulate them. I have solar, chooks and an ethical super, but guess what? Australia's emissions have gone up for the last five years because the government isn't regulating industry or helping consumers make good choices.
If you're worried about climate change too, I'd urge you to stop feeling ashamed about not recycling perfectly and start getting angry that those in power are knowingly harming our planet.
Rachel Schofield, Wallagoot
Conflict of interest
I listened to Cr Tony Allen's reasons for supporting the climate emergency declaration rescind motion a couple of weeks ago at council. Essentially he claimed that the declaration had been pushed by the Greens who are all vegans and that if they were successful in converting others to veganism in the name of climate change, he and his son, who are beef farmers (as well as other beef and dairy farmers in the valley) would be out of pocket.
In the first instance he is incorrect that the declaration was pushed by the Greens. It was put forward on behalf of the 5000 or so Valley residents concerned about climate change. He is further incorrect that all Greens are vegans. Many source meat and dairy from animals humanely raised in sustainable farming systems.
But more importantly, Cr Allen surely had a conflict of interest if he voted on the basis of loss of income for himself and his son. He should therefore have abstained from voting.
I ask Cr Allen to consider this: if I were a broad bean farmer in the Bega Valley and also a councillor, would he appreciate that I voted in support of the emergency declaration on the basis that my crops failed this year due to the unseasonally warm winter and thus my income this year was non-existent?
Councillors are not elected to vote based on their own interests, but on those of the whole shire.
Kerrin Sheard, Bega
Show me the numbers
The issue of the repair and maintenance costs of our six pools gets more confusing every day.
Something that just occurred to me - are the previous three lots of councillors over the last 10 years equally responsible for the debacle of no long-term plan and budget allocation to cover this?
All this gets even more confusing when a former councillor says that there was already a standing budget allocation to cover all of this via a fee we were already paying.
While all the blame seems to be put upon councillors who are only part time, nothing is mentioned about all the long-term heads of departments whose duty it is to keep councillors apprised of this issue on a regular basis over a long period of time.
How about some transparency and accountability on this whole issue. At the moment it is all smoke and mirrors. Let's see the paperwork. Figures are supposed to tell the truth, but depends on which figures?