URGENT: A Truly Extraordinary Meeting
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 was a move in the right direction.
But it seems that for our new Mayor Gangemi and new Councillors Hodges and Cox this plan to make a plan was too much. They have put a motion to tomorrow's extraordinary meeting to rescind November's motion. And apparently this is so urgent that it justified an extraordinary meeting.
And we find that truly extraordinary! And reprehensible!
We must assume that Messrs Gangemi, Hodges and Cox, who put this motion, will vote in favour of it. But we cannot yet know the disposition of the remaining Liberal councillors on matters related to climate action. And there are now three Labor councillors and one Greens councillor who, we assume, will oppose this rescission motion. If enough of us make our feelings known, perhaps this backwards step may be averted.
So if you are as appalled as we are, then we urge you to write to the mayor and councillors, before tomorrow afternoon, politely and respectfully expressing your dismay and urging them not to set the new council on this seemingly science-denying and climate-denying path. Here is a list of the councillors' email addresses (as provided publicly at Your Mayor and Councillors):
mayor.gangemi@thehills.nsw.gov.au; clr.hodges@thehills.nsw.gov.au; clr.cox@thehills.nsw.gov.au; clr.blue@thehills.nsw.gov.au; clr.boneham@thehills.nsw.gov.au; clr.demasi@thehills.nsw.gov.au; clr.brazier@thehills.nsw.gov.au; clr.jethi@thehills.nsw.gov.au; clr.ellis@thehills.nsw.gov.au; clr.kasby@thehills.nsw.gov.au; clr.tonyhay@thehills.nsw.gov.au; clr.tracey@thehills.nsw.gov.au; clr.Burton@thehills.nsw.gov.au;
If you wish you could also register to address council on the matter at Tuesday’s meeting: Register to Address a Council Meeting.
* It is our assumption that this is the real reason for the extraordinary meeting - there are other items on the agenda but none that strike us as necessitating an extraordinary meeting.
More information:
This blog and our Facebook page and our administrators are not affiliated with any party or candidate standing in The Hills Shire Council elections in 2021. Nor do we receive funding from any individual, party, institution or corporation. Our very constrained expenditures are financed by the page administrators themselves acting in a personal capacity. Our only interest is in a safe climate for current and future residents of the Hills Shire.
Email: climate.matters.hills.2021@gmail.com
Message: m.me/ClimateMattersHills2021
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