Perhaps of chief concern is the proposal
to scrap the Sustainability Action Committee. The view of the GM and council
officers appears to be that this committee is no longer needed.
Yet in moving this way council
ignores many fine statements made throughout council’s management plans and
website, put succinctly on the website introduction.
“The Committee works with Council and community in order to
achieve its strategic intent of creating a living environment towards a
sustainable future.
The
Committee’s mission is to ensure a healthy future for Hornsby Shire by
fostering sustainable social, environmental and economic practices by council
and the community.”
And elsewhere
“It is important in Hornsby Shire Council’s approach to
sustainability that decision making processes create an environment in which all stakeholders can become involved in the planning and management of their communities. It
requires an emphasis on open, deliberative approaches to decision-making.”
One has to ask why the GM is
moving in direct opposition to these fine sentiments ?
Does the GM feel they have done
all that is necessary on the sustainability front ? But you only have to look
at the GM’s own report, measuring council performance against a fairly faint
hearted set of sustainability ambitions, to see that even they do not think so.
Just to pick a few action items
and the comments against them
- · Continue to implement the Hornsby 2020 Sustainability Framework across council – Limited progress due to resource constraints
- · Progress Quadruple Bottom Line sustainability decision making and reporting system within council – No progress due to resource constraints
- · Use GIS software to measure bushland cleared illegally – No mapping available.
- · Aim for 50% of waterways to be classed as healthy – only 36% measured as “good”, 56% as “poor”
And under the actions for a
resilient local economy
- · Continue to implement the actions contained in the Sustainable Business Strategy – No progress due to resource constraints.
And as to the big ambition of
council expressed in the Community Plan, to become “Carbon Neutral” ? The GM’s
report does not even mention the word Carbon!
If the Sustainability Action
Committee goes, who will oversight council performance? GM’s report was waived through the council
meeting, despite me putting my name down and requesting to speak on the matter.
Not a single councillor questioned the general manager and officers on these
complete failures of performance. Without the Sustainability Action Committee
is this what we can expect to be the standard performance review from now on?
The community at the council
meeting certainly expressed their dismay at this move. But it was very
disappointing to see that some of our new councillors evidently were not
interested, perhaps shirking the work involved on being on such a committee.
Fortunately a holding move was successful, for the committee to be reviewed.
Again, one has to ask why the
move, as there is not even any cost saving justification cited in proposing the
scrapping of this committee. Does the GM think that the councillors and
community are not interested, have nothing more to contribute ?Or that
sustainability doesn't matter any more?
It is imperative that the
community remind councillors that sustainability is the core principle of the
council’s management plan, and that both councillors and the community must be
able to oversight performance, and contribute fresh thinking to the council. We
definitely need the Sustainability Action Committee.
