1 week Ago By Benjamin Preiss
A coastal Victorian council in a high erosion risk zone has scrapped its climate emergency declaration and plan after a controversial split vote on Tuesday night. The Mornington Peninsula Shire was among many councils to declare a climate emergency in 2019. At the time, the council passed the declaration unanimously and called for immediate and urgent action.
Beach boxes exposed to the sea at Mount Martha North, on the Mornington Peninsula. Credit: Eddie Jim But on Tuesday night, deputy mayor Paul Pingiaro’s motion to overturn the council’s climate emergency declaration and its accompanying climate emergency plan was successful in a vote of six councillors against five. The decision drew fierce criticism from opposing councillors and one of Victoria’s most prominent environmentalist groups.
Pingiaro’s motion said future climate-related proposals that would previously have been supported by the climate emergency plan would now be subject to an itemised budget or council report. During the meeting, Pingiaro insisted the motion was not about denying climate change. The Sorrento beach shoreline, on the Mornington Peninsula, is at high risk of coastal erosion.
Credit: Joe Armao “It’s about facing a fiscal reality and ensuring our climate response delivers actual value, not just rhetoric,” he said. Pingiaro, who was elected to the council last year, argued the council had failed to deliver “genuine value” after investing $11.7 million in climate-related initiatives.
But councillor Max Patton, who voted against the motion, told The Age the climate emergency declaration and plan had overwhelming community support when it was introduced. By contrast, he said, the community had been unable to express its views on the motion passed on Tuesday night. “This motion has come to the chamber without any community consultation,” Patton said.
Patton said many residents had attended the meeting to voice their opposition to the move. “The gallery was full and there were many people dissenting on this.” Patton said coastal damage from climate change had already reached $5.
1 million annually and was expected to reach $67 million a year by 2100. Patton said it was appropriate to review the climate emergency plan but disagreed with it being scrapped altogether. Another dissenting councillor, Kate Roper, questioned why the community’s views were not being sought before endorsing such significant change.
Tuning in to the meeting remotely, Roper said there was a gallery of highly emotional residents. The Mornington Peninsula Shire has scrapped its climate emergency declaration and climate emergency plan. Credit: Simon Schluter Environment Victoria senior climate and energy adviser Kat Lucas-Healey lashed the Mornington Peninsula Shire’s decision to scrap the emergency declaration.
She said the declaration’s purpose was to ensure councils put appropriate scrutiny on their responses to climate change. “It seems quite backward to be withdrawing that,” she said. “Part of the reason for the declaration is to make it a high priority and communicate that to the community.
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