Community forum to throw light on climate change ahead of council vote

Councillors Lauren Edwards, Lisa Intemann, Nik Lipovac and Rachel Sheppard have organised what they say will be a "facilitated, respectful community panel discussion about climate change".

While the forum is not a Port Macquarie-Hastings Council event, the four councillors considered the issue of sufficient community interest to warrant organising it independently.

Billed "A Sensible Approach to Climate: What Does our Community Think?", the ticketed forum will be at St Columba Anglican School (SCAS) Chapel from 6pm to 8pm. Around 100 residents have the opportunity to attend in person or via livestream.

The panel will be facilitated by Charles Sturt University (CSU) adjunct senior lecturer Jane Evans, with managing director of Men and Women at Work, Ross Cargill, acting as emcee.

The panellists are Port Macquarie MP Leslie Williams, former SCAS chairman and Comboyne Community Association president Gordon Burch, Dunghutti Gumbaynggirr woman Theresa Cochrane, who is studying environmental science and management at CSU, Port Macquarie Chamber of Commerce board member and Veterinarians for Climate Action deputy chair Angela Frimberger, Eco-Tourism Australia board member Peter Johnson, medical oncologist Georgia Ritchie, and developer Brian Tierney

Cr Lipovac said there was nothing more important than a free and open discussion involving a diverse range of people across the community, on issues that impacted the local government area.

"I'm an advocate for listening to and accepting people's different opinions and combining that with factual information to determine a suitable policy going forward," he said.

Cr Sheppard said that wanting a sensible approach to climate action is now a mainstream interest.

"We want our whole community to feel comfortable being part of that conversation," she said.

Cr Edwards said: "I hope that this community panel discussion [serves] to highlight the need for the whole of our community to find common ground and to work together on this major issue."

Cr Intemann said she hoped a lot of people turned up for the critical debate.

In February, Port Macquarie-Hastings Council became the first council in the state to drop a climate change declaration.

Its Climate Change Response Policy was retained and was subsequently revised to remove any reference to the rescinded Climate Change Emergency declaration.

However, in March, deputy mayor Adam Roberts put forward a motion to publicly exhibit a proposal to rescind the Climate Change Response Policy. It was carried five to four.

Residents have until May 6 to provide feedback to the council about the proposal, with council to release an overview of public submissions in May.

When asked for a response to the community forum, Cr Roberts said: "while these four councillors are using their time in office to advocate for climate change, I know that the mayor's team is hard at work making sure that our first budget includes record spending on the core business of council."

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