By Matthew Sims
Maribyrnong council has formalised its position of not supporting advertising from fossil fuel companies on council property, such as sporting reserves.
Maribyrnong councillor and Greens candidate for Western Metropolitan Bernadette Thomas raised a motion at council’s meeting on Tuesday, September 13 for council to no longer support advertising from fossil fuel companies on council property, integrate this position into its sporting reserve signage policy, review council policies and strategies where needed and receive a report from council officers by Tuesday, December 6 on progress made, with councillors unanimously voting to pass the motion.
Volunteer-run and non-partisan climate advocacy group Comms Declare approached the council to support their campaign to ban fossil fuel advertising across the country.
Cr Thomas said the decision for council to no longer support fossil fuel advertising was in line with current strategies and thanked Comms Declare for bringing the campaign to the council’s attention.
“It aligns with the Climate Emergency Strategy and the Action Plan and the work that the Climate Emergency Community Advisory Group did,” she said.
“We know that if we are going to transition to a climate-friendly (and) a renewable-based future, we need every sector across our community to be on board.
“I think it’s really exciting that groups like Comms Declare are on board and they’re doing what they can do within their remit.”
Maribyrnong City Council acknowledged the Climate Emergency in 2019 and adopted its first Climate Emergency Strategy in 2020 and Climate Emergency Action Plan in 2022.
Maribyrnong councillor Simon Crawford said the motion would complement previous decision to not allow alcohol and tobacco advertising on council property.
“This is just another step in the direction of trying to not allow the promotion of activity that we’re trying to discourage,” he said.
“We’re trying to solve the climate issues, we don’t want to make them any worse.”
Details: fossiladban.org
