Climate Matters: Hills Shire

  Breathtaking, obdurate ignorance and denial by Liberal councillors defeated a modest, sensible and very necessary and important motion at the Hills Shire Council meeting on March 26. Acting on widespread community concern, Councillor Kasby (Greens) introduced a motion requesting that council staff be asked to prepare a report on: “options available to Council to provide residents with a more regular and convenient soft plastic recycling service and the costings to do so” After the collapse of the REDcycle program in late 2022, we consumers were left with few options to dispose of our soft plastics other than hoarding them or tossing them in our red bins.  But viable options have begun to emerge and other councils have acted to provide a service to their residents. So it is eminently sensible, at little to no cost, that our council should seek a report to inform councillors on the options. … no great impost, merely calling for a report … As Councillor Kasby said In her introd...

  At their ordinary council meeting of February 6, the Hills Shire Council overwhelmingly carried a motion proposed by Councillor Jerome Cox and described by a UN Human Rights Officer as an “evil devious motion”. The motion effectively rules out council hosting Drag Queen Storytime events, while seeming to designate such events as “sexualised material designed to target children”. The council motion was a response to motion 58 passed by the Local Government NSW conference last year.  Motion 58 calls for LGNSW to encourage member councils to organise inclusive events and to ensure the events can take place “at council facilities safely for performers and attendees”.  Councillor Cox seems to take issue with that. Temper tantrum? Speaking to his motion, Councillor Cox did not seem to feel it necessary to justify his objection to such events. Instead the main part of his stated argument seemed to be his chagrin that motion 58 was considered by LGNSW while “...we didn’t get to...