LGAT, Climate Tasmania forum puts climate and councils in focus

Co-hosted by the Local Government Association of Tasmania and Climate Tasmania, the forum will focus on the role local governments can play in climate change mitigation, with a follow-up event to look in more detail at climate change adaptation. 

“I think in Tasmania, being an island state, we are quite acutely aware of the issues and brought home by an eventful, to say the least, 2016 with fires and floods,” LGAT chief executive Katrena Stephenson said. 

Climate Tasmania associate and climate policy adviser Philip Harrington said local governments are perfectly placed to engage with the community around climate change. 

“Local government is in a closer relationship to its local community than many would say the state government or the national government [are] and so what we’re seeing around many areas of Australia is local government playing a real leadership role on climate action, so actually thinking more about mitigation or reduction,” he said. 

Mr Harrington will share examples from the mainland of councils who are taking a very proactive approach. 

“Something like 70 per cent of all local governments in Australia have got climate change or renewable energy targets,” he said. 

“Sydney runs its whole council fleet on bio fuels and Adelaide City Council is in a very active program of rolling out recharging points to electric vehicles.”

Mr Harrington said many councils in Tasmania are still focussing more on the council's own practices than a broader community approach.

“The big difference that we see between Tasmanian councils and mainland councils is that there hasn't really been an attempt to reach out from the councils to their local communities to really engage them in setting these kinds of targets for the whole of the community.

“We would like to see more councils to [that] here.”

Several mayors, however, said they do not have accurate information on which to base specific climate policies. 

“The jury’s out in our opinion ... how much of a reality [climate change] is mainly because of even scientists don't seem to to be able to agree on it,” Circular Head mayor Daryl Quilliam said. 

West Tamar mayor Christina Holmdahl said they want to make sure the best available information is available to create a climate specific policy.

“At the moment we dont believe that information exists,” she said. 

A snapshot of councils’ stances on climate change. 

City of Launceston general manager Robert Dobrzynski said the council’s view is climate change mitigation should be part of all operational aspects of the council, so all departments are reducing the council’s carbon footprint. 

An example is the Northern Lights program, which installs low-emission LED street lights. 

"In recent years we have had a major focus reducing our carbon footprint in areas such as fleet, waste and building management, where we have introduced a number of initiatives including energy-efficient lighting, solar panel systems, and more efficient heating and cooling systems,” Mr Dobrzynski said. 

Break O’Day mayor Mick Tucker is proud of the council’s approach to climate policy. 

“Break O’Day does have a climate adaptation policy … we would like to believe we are being extremely proactive in being very aware of potential ramifications that may occur with rising sea levels et cetera,” he said. 

The council has done modelling to predict the impact of sea level rise at different levels, and uses this to inform decisions about future developments. 

Meander Valley Council doesn’t have a specific climate policy, but mayor Craig Perkins said the issue is reflected throughout the council’s strategic documents. 

“We have an environmental sustainability committee in council so it gets picked up in our normal operation as opposed to having a specific strategy,” he said. 

The council has also been key in the Northern Lights program and is exploring options like bio energy. 

The King Island council hasn’t had any problems that have raised concerns about climate issues Kind Island Council manager David Laugher said. 

“It’s something that we are going to have to look at a lot more closely, particularly in relation to the whole impact of the coastal policy in the planning scheme, but it’s not something that has created significant concern or issue for us,” he said. 

The council doesn’t currently have a climate-specific policy.

Despite not having a specific policy, West Tamar mayor Christina Holmdahl said the council is mindful of potential issues and impacts, particularly in low-lying areas and has had modelling done in those areas. 

“Our interim planning scheme also takes into account any development applications that may be susceptible to future climate change impacts,” she said. 

Cr Holmdahl said the council is looking to the state government for leadership on the issue, and would like the best available information to craft a policy. 

West Coast mayor Phil Vickers said the council doesn’t currently have a climate-specific policy and has no current plans to develop one. 

"It's not something that’s high on our agenda because of where we sit as far as the weather goes," he said. 

Flinders Council mayor Carol Cox said they are a small council doing what they could by working on developing a climate change adaptation strategy. 

Cr Cox said this had helped to identify the Furneaux Islands’ major risks of storm surge, coastal inundation and bushfires. 

The council makes use of things like solar power, Mayor Cox believes those are “basic opportunities you take anyway to reduce your costs”.

Circular Head Council does not have a specific climate mitigation or adaptation strategy mayor Daryl Quilliam said. 

He said the “jury is still out” as to how much of a reality climate change is. 

“Some scientists say that climate change is a reality and others don't see it as important ... there’s some confusion just between scientists let alone what we should actually do about it,” he said. 

Cr Quilliam said the council is aware of coastal erosion and anything that could disadvantage the area needs to be considered.