CITY COUNCIL CORRECT ON CLIMATE
Member for Western Victoria, Bev McArthur praised the majority of City of Greater Geelong councillors for rejecting the motion tabled by a Greens councillor declaring a climate emergency.
On Tuesday, a Greens councillor tabled a notice of motion that declared “that climate change poses a serious and immediate risk to people in Geelong, Australia, and globally, and should be treated as an emergency.” The majority of councillors voted against this motion.
Bev McArthur said “The councillor who wrote this motion best look up the definitions of ‘immediate’ and ‘emergency’ so that they do not deceive the ratepayers to whom they are accountable or their fellow councillors.”
“Geelong can take sensible and reasonable measures to reduce its environmental impact without scaring people with sensationalist language such as ‘emergency’ that has proven to be harmful particularly towards children.”
"What happens when there is a genuine emergency like a terrorist attack, raging bush or urban fire, extreme weather events like cyclones and floods and power blackouts which threaten lives? Will anyone take notice of these emergencies? And what about farmers suffering from drought and lack of water for starving stock and households? They would consider they are in desperate straights, if not an emergency."
"We all have to take responsibility for how we treat our environment and planet and practical solutions for using less energy, being less wasteful and self indulgent, exploring better ways to recycle in our disposable society, planting more trees as farmers do on a regular basis; are direct actions which we can adopt immediately."
“I congratulate the councillors who voted against this motion and stood up for common-sense over alarmist language and ideology that offers no practical suggestions to the behavioral changes of individuals,” she concluded.
26 September 2019