PHOTO: Local Government NSW President Cr Darriea Turley AM
The Local Government association of NSW (LGNSW) met at the Hunter Valley on October 23-25 with more than 150 motions including 12 late ones debated or carried without dissent.
Journalist Merilyn Vale was there and below are some of the motions debated.
Banning real estate agents
Current LGNSW policy calls for both real estate agents and property developers to be banned from serving as councillors.
Cowra Council wanted to change that, saying the code of conduct should be sufficient.
“Once we start to ban a legal profession to an elected body we are on slippery slope,” one speaker said.
The motion was defeated with 40 per cent of voting delegates for the change and 60 per cent against the change.
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Nuclear Energy/Climate Change
Murray River Council put forward a motion on Nuclear energy.
The motion read:
That Local Government NSW seeks that the Federal Government remove any impediments that prevent investigating nuclear energy as a viable option, with particular focus on Small Modular Reactors.
The vote was 60 per cent against that motion and 40 per cent for it. The motion was lost.
Another motion, from Broken HIll Council called on Local Government NSW to lobby the Australian Government to provide leadership and support so that at least 50% of renewable energy is generated in the capital cities of Australia.
The motion was carried.
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State’s Planning Portal
There was tense debate about whether to tell the State Government to abandon its planning portal or whether to say fix it.
Abandon or fix was in the original motion but delegates said get rid of the word abandon as they have spent a heap of money to integrate it with their IT systems.
In the end, the motion that was carried was a message to the State Government to improve the portal.
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Funding of all de- amalgamation costs
City of Canterbury-Bankstown Council put up a motion about funding of upfront and ongoing de- amalgamation costs
The Motion read: That Local Government NSW advocates to the NSW Government that all upfront financial costs of de-amalgamation for new councils and ongoing financial costs be fully funded directly following the Minister’s support of the de-amalgamation proposal.
Speaker says there is no certainty of what costs upfront and ongoing that State will pay for. It needs clarifying.
Motion was overwhelmingly carried.
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Feral cats
The motion calls on the State Government to allow councils to deal with feral cats according to each council’s policy.
Recently the State Government amended the Companion Animal Act, ruling that councils had to contact at least two rehoming organisations, advertise that the seized/surrendered animal is available for rehoming, and follow new record-keeping requirements of the actions a council took to attempt to rehome the animal, before euthanising feral cats.
One speaker said it meant their council wasn’t catching cats because their facilities were full.
An amendment was added that the State give more funds to allow councils to comply with the new regulations. The motion was adopted.
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Rat poison and SGARs
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City of Ryde puts up a motion to protect wildlife from rat poison.
Motion:
That Local Government NSW calls on the NSW State government to:
1. legislate to ban the retail sale of Second Generation Anticoagulant Rodenticides (SGARs) in NSW.
2. change the state government’s pest management practices for state-owned properties to stop the use of SGARs.
3. advocate through the joint Commonwealth-States Agriculture Ministers’ Meeting (AMM) for a national ban on the retail sale of SGARs.
4. investigate nominating SGARs as a key threatening process under the NSW Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016.
5. encourage landholders through Local Land Services to avoid the use of SGARs and responsibly manage pest issues through licensed professionals.
Some passionate debate for and against but in the end the ayes had it by 60 per cent to 40 per cent.
