Climate Matters: Hills Shire

The first meeting of our new council for 2022 was scheduled for February 8.  But now we find that an extraordinary meeting has been called for tomorrow (Tuesday, January 11) before the new councillors have even undergone their induction briefings. And the reason* for this extraordinary meeting is truly ... extraordinary!  With unseemly haste, the new Liberal mayor and two of the new Liberal councillors have moved to undo one of the very few nods of the previous council towards climate action. In November last year, then Councillors Jackson and Haseldon put a motion to  " commit to the development of an Energy Strategy to review our use of renewable energy and to reduce reliance on fossil fuels such as coal, gas, petrol and diesel ."  That motion was passed.  It didn't amount to much really - no commitment to a renewable energy target, let alone an emissions target.  Really it was just a plan to make a plan ... possibly ... subject to the resulting Energy Strategy.  But it