LEETON mayor Paul Maytom has had a long-range plan to address climate change in the shire shot down.
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The words "climate change" in today's day and age will always guarantee a robust debate and it was no different at a recent Leeton Shire Council meeting.
Councillor Maytom put forward a mayoral minute at the meeting, which looked at how the shire should prepare to be resilient when it comes to climate change.
In the minute, he said it would be negligent for any farmer, any community or any council to ignore the warnings that temperatures are going up, weather extremes are becoming the norm, rainfall patterns are changing and the increasing frost risk.
In a bold move, Cr Maytom suggested council "expresses in its future strategic plans an aspirational commitment to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.
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However, this idea, as well as another that would have seen council advocate to the federal government for it to meet Australia's commitments under the Paris Convention, were both ruled out by his fellow councillors.
Instead, council has now decided to undertake a climate change vulnerability assessment for Leeton shire.
Council will also formulate motions for next year's Local Government NSW Conference and Australian Local Government Congress on the issue.
"It would be a foolhardy council that buries its head in the sand and denies the climate is changing," the mayor said.
"While I am not wanting to declare any emergency, I consider it our collective responsibility as today's leaders to leave the earth a better place for future generations.
"I am pleased my fellow councillors have agreed the first step to increasing our climate resilience is understanding what vulnerabilities we and future generations will face."
Many of the councillors agreed having a motion on the table locking council in to an emissions commitment was something they couldn't support.
However, they agreed it was something they would reconsider looking into at a later done when more facts and research into the matter can be conducted.
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