Climate change committees condensed

chair of the biodiversity committee, and I attended the climate change committee, and they were wonderful people,” he said.

“They were experts in their feld, as Cr Clancy says, and I do see that they have different interests, and they were quite distinctly different the groups, or the two different groups there.” with different purposes thrown together.”

But he said the proposed committee structure would be an improvement on the current one.

“When I was sitting in those meetings, the meetings often rambled,” he said.

Cr Cristie Yager had a foot in both camps.

“I think on these committees and worthwhile, they may become more effective with that variety of people who can then contribute their aspect, which everything interrelates, I think in some of the topics that have been put up,” she said.

“All of the changes that Cr Clancy has made, yeah, they’re important, But I do like the idea of trying to streamline and actually become effective.” would streamline their operation. for the council.

Cr Clancy agreed to support the new motion, but only as a second-best option.

He was afraid the new structure would exclude a lot of people who had specifc interests in protecting the environment and this proposal was a “slap in the face” for them.

“The coast and estuary committee has been very active and very valuable in assisting council with the Coastal Management Plan that is a requirement to obtain State Government funds,” he said.

Cr Clancy put up motion to increase the number of committees to fve, creating a biodiversity committee and a community climate change committee to cover the diversity of factors involved in responding to climate change.

Almost immediately Cr Clancy’s motion was challenged.

The general manager Laura Black said its structure was out of step with the IP and R requirements.

And Cr Karen Toms thought it might be unlawful before it did not include a funding source for the extra committee.

Cr Clancy made some adjustments to the motion to satisfy the general manager. He said the funding source would be the same as for the funding for the four committees recommended in the report.

Cr Peter Johnstone queried the effectiveness of the current committees, claiming they had contributed very little of consequence to the council.

“I think from the climate change committee, there was a motion that came up about making the Clarence nuclear free,” Cr Johnstone said.

“I think there was also a motion that was put up, that was rejected by council, about turning off the lights at the cathedral.”

But he agreed with Cr Clancy that the people who participated on the committees were well qualifed.

“I was the deputy

“People came up with their ideas, and other people were bouncing ideas off each other.

But it really wasn’t very focused.

“My thought is that there could be sub-committees in the environment committee, so that the climate change people got together, the biodiversity people got together, there would be some overlap.”

Cr Clancy won support from Cr Lynne Cairns, who said it was not the time to downplay the signifcance of climate change.

“The NSW State Disaster Mitigation Plan 2024-26 indicates our LGA is at considerable risk from foods, storms, coastal hazards and cyclones,” she said.

“Downgrading this committee does not make sense. I believe should be retained as a separate entity, rather than a mishmash of several committees

Put to the vote Cr Clancy’s motion was defeated 6-3 and Cr Debrah Novak’s foreshadowed motion to accept the offcers recommendation for four committees became the new motion.

“I love the idea of the four committees and their subject matters,” Cr Novak said.

“And I love the idea of moving into the modern era where we actually have sharing knowledge and collaborative leadership, and that’s what these committees are about.

“They’re not silo thinkings, they’re not empire building. They are sharing knowledge so that everybody in the room who is sitting at the table can actually access other people’s knowledge.”

Cr Whaites said the new structure, which brought relevant council senior staff into the committees

“I don’t know how we will get people with an interest in the environment, in those special areas, working together, because they’ve come from a whole range of different backgrounds, and it’s very sad that we’ve just got one broad Environment Committee,” he said.

“So how that’s going to work? Time will tell.”

But Cr Karen Toms said her experience on council had shown her that that the community’s needs changed over time and the council committee structure needed to change to match it.

And Cr Novak said her experience chairing the council’s sporting committees, where people had widely different backgrounds showed it was possible for people with different areas of expertise to work together.

The motion to propose the new committees was approved unanimously. A report will be prepared for the February meeting to confrmation of draft Terms of Reference, proposed membership and nominate councillors as chairs and participants.