Local governments are ideally placed to lead and act on climate change.  Throughout Australia and around the world, councils are stepping up to play their part.  It is vital that here in the Hills we, too, have a council that is committed to safeguarding our community from this present and developing threat to our way of life.

That is why we are asking the in-coming Hills Shire Council to:

1. Acknowledge the issue and their responsibility to lead and act
2. Urgently plan for climate mitigation measures in the Hills
3. Urgently plan to adapt our shire to cope with the worsening climate
4. Actively engage with the community in formulating and acting on these plans

Here in the Hills Shire we can see all too clearly that the effects of climate change are upon us.  In the last two years we have been affected by storms, floods and an unprecedented and devastating months-long fire storm.

This year, 2021, is the first year of a decade in which we must drastically cut our emissions.  If we do not, our comfortable and amenable Hills Shire environment will be increasingly subject to the fury of a more and more hostile climate.  We know this because an overwhelming consensus of science, future thinkers and community leaders tells us so.  And we confirm this through our recent lived experience.  It is no longer a matter for debate!

Nor is it a matter for party politics.  Whatever the composition of the new Hills Shire Council, and without regard to past actions or omissions, we urge that you grasp this opportunity for a new approach exhibiting the leadership that is necessary to assure the continued security and prosperity of our shire and its residents.

To this end we ask council to show climate leadership and take urgent and decisive climate action.  Specifically we ask the following:

1. Acknowledge the issue
We ask council to urgently formulate and pass a resolution that acknowledges:

• The urgent threat posed by global heating to our population and our built and natural environment and the central role and responsibility our local government and community can and must assume to address the challenge;
• The pressing need for council to drastically cut its own emissions and those of the community, in line with the objectives of the 2015 Paris climate accord to keep global average temperature to well below 2 degrees above the pre-industrial average;
• That council must take urgent steps to prepare and adapt our shire to minimise the adverse effects of the global warming that is to come on our people and on our built and natural environment;
• That climate mitigation and adaptation objectives will be a first-order consideration in all council decisions and business.

We further ask that council take immediate steps to join and actively engage with the Cities Power Partnership and other appropriate organisations and peak bodies to share and benefit from the collective experience of other local governments pursuing these objectives.

2. Urgently plan for mitigation
We ask that council immediately instruct and resource council officers to formulate and enact a comprehensive plan to:

• Cut emissions from all of council’s own operations by 75% by 2030 and 100% by 2035;
• Encourage, incentivise and materially assist the community to pursue the same objectives.

We further ask that council act immediately to source 100% of all council’s electricity consumption from renewable energy generators and plan to phase out council’s own gas usage by 2025.

3. Urgently plan for adaptation
We ask that council immediately instruct and resource council officers to formulate and enact a comprehensive plan that:

• Identifies and prioritises global heating threats to our people and to our built and natural environment;
• Identifies and prioritises actions that council can take to adapt our shire to deal with the identified threats so as to minimise their effect on our health and safety and on the environment.

4. Actively engage the community
We urge council to actively engage the community at every stage, including by establishing a community advisory board to work collaboratively with council and with council officers to provide transparent and accountable assurance that council’s plans and actions are consistent with what the science demands and with community expectations.