Tamworth Regional Council mayor slams council climate emergency declarations
TAMWORTH'S mayor has said a council climate emergency declaration would be "a bit of a farce".
It comes as Wagga Wagga joined a list of NSW councils taking a stand when it carried a motion to develop a climate emergency plan.
But Tamworth Regional Council mayor Col Murray said he doesn't care for "motherhood-statements" and what really mattered were the actions taken.
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"I don't think you have to declare a climate emergency, I think that's a bit of a farce," he said.
"I think it's the actions you take and the outcomes you seek that show you're taking climate seriously."
He said the council had been called on by the region to take climate action through its community strategic plan consultation.
Cr Murray said the council had acted accordingly in its pursuit of alternate energy sources including the landfill gas reuse project and switching to solar power at many of its facilities.
Cr Murray personally believed there was confusion around climate change and said there was "a lot of loose terminology associated with ideology".
He said the climate had been changing since the last ice age.
The recent water for the future study commissioned by the Namoi joint organisations of councils listed climate change as a threat to water security and made a raft of recommendations to strengthen water security and "overall economic growth and development of the region".
It said areas which relied on rivers and dams, like Tamworth, rather than groundwater, were "likely to be more susceptible to increases in evaporation due to temperature increases".
A report by the Australian National University predicted the New England region to be one of the most heavily affected by climate change; the worst case scenario seeing Tamworth become 4.5 degrees hotter by 2050.
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