Muswellbrook Mayor Jeff Drayton says he will vote against a national motion calling for a Climate Compensation Fund when council leaders from across Australia gather in Canberra this week.
The motion, put forward by the City of Sydney and backed by the Australian Local Government Association Board, will go to a vote at the ALGA National General Assembly from 23 to 25 June. It calls on the Federal Government to establish a Parliamentary inquiry into levies and taxes on coal, oil and gas corporations to help fund the cost of climate-related disasters.
The push comes as Australia’s 537 councils face mounting climate costs, with the insured cost of climate-related disasters now twelve times higher than two decades ago, while local government revenue has only grown three-fold in the same period.
Mayor Drayton said the motion lacked sufficient detail and questioned whether councils unaffected by mining were equipped to weigh in on the issue.
“I’d be surprised if there’s a councillor from the City of Sydney who’s ever been to the Hunter region, or any coal mining region for that matter, let alone a coal mine,” he said.
He said the mining industry remained critical to the Muswellbrook economy and pointed instead to existing cost-shifting pressures on councils, including the waste levy, as issues requiring greater federal support.
Mayor Drayton said he did not believe voting against the motion would affect future government grants for clean energy projects in the region, adding that renewable energy developments would proceed regardless of the outcome.
“It doesn’t matter whether the coal mines or that industry is taxed more heavily or not taxed at all, that won’t change the outcome with where we’re heading with renewable energy,” he said.
