Members of the Maribyrnong community will soon have the chance to be a part of a new climate committee recently endorsed by council.
In its meeting on Tuesday, February 20, Maribyrnong council voted to establish a Climate Emergency Advisory Committee.
Council said the committee will provide advice to council on issues and barriers relevant to achieving the goals and objectives of council’s Climate Emergency Strategy.
The committee will run for a two year trial period with a review at six months and a second review at 18 months.
Councillor Simon Crawford said he has high hopes for the committee.
“I certainly hope that by now we’re all aware of the challenges ahead of us with climate change, already having big impacts on this community,” he said.
“There’s a lot of expertise out there in the community, so I’m certainly hopeful that by developing this committee, we are able to bring some of that expertise in to assist with what we’re doing here at council.”
Councillor Bernadette Thomas said the addition of the committee was an “exciting” step in council’s climate response.
“We know we’ve got an engaged community around climate issues , and I know we’ll have a lot of people interested,” she said.
“We increasingly receive questions around climate response and what actions we are taking locally to respond to the climate emergency.
“….So we are looking forward to seeing a variety of expressions of interest for people who are in on climate action, but also people new or want to contribute in a variety of ways.”
In 2019, council acknowledged that a state of climate emergency that requires urgent action by all levels of government.
Council endorsed the Climate Emergency Action Plan in April 2022, which states council will, “Investigate options to establish a community group to work with council on the climate emergency, with a focus on climate justice, and/or work with other Council advisory groups on the climate emergency response.”
The committee is proposed to be established to deliver this action and provide advice on council’s climate emergency response.
An expression of interest process for membership of the Maribyrnong Climate Emergency Advisory Panel will be conducted, with a further report to be presented to council to recommend the selection of committee members.
