Wagga councillors battle over role in the climate crisis as Richard Foley pushes roadmap amendment

With both Wagga City Council and the NSW government currently negotiating their own climate change roadmaps, the implications are stark for the local community.

Wagga's deputy mayor Jenny McKinnon has recently spearheaded debates around banning new gas connections in Wagga, and an amendment that sought to ensure Wagga's Net Zero Emissions 2050 Roadmap would not be used to levy new fines, or add costs to business.

Council's arguments on these policies come down to two things: what role does local government have in addressing climate change, and what is the right balance of carrot and stick to get things moving?

Climate Action Wagga president Pat Murray said while local government has an important role to play, she'd prefer they use incentives, not punishments.

"When there's an expectation to make a change, and people don't have the means or capacity to make that investment, they feel as if they're not part of the community," Dr Murray said.

"How can we help these people? It starts by having conversations with them. I don't think that's happening at the moment.

"If it's a new development, why would you connect to gas when in five years time, that could be obsolete?"

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NSW Premier Chris Minns has ruled out following Victoria in banning new gas connections, effectively kicking this issue back to local government.

But under the constitutional separation of powers, it's unclear whether local governments have the power to issue gas bans.

Although Wagga's Net Zero Emissions 2050 Roadmap does not directly call for these kinds of changes, concerns it would be read this way led Councillor Richard Foley to rail against it's endorsement by Councillors.

Cr Foley has filed a motion to rescind the endorsement of the roadmap, that will be voted on by councillors at the next ordinary meeting on August 7.

His intent is to pass the document with the amendment: "Wagga Wagga City Council, will not be making any future policy or regulations off this net Zero Roadmap, mandating people or businesses, by way of fees, rate rises, taxes, levies, or fines, to make adjustments as to how they eat, how they use energy, what they purchase, and what they throw away."

Cr Foley said while he thinks the council are unified about the content of the document, he wants to get ahead of any potential criticism.

He said cities like London had introduced punitive measures against their citizens, and didn't want to see anything of that nature in Wagga.

"We need to be clear as a local government body that we have no intention of forcing requirements on people," he said.

"Nobody will be advocating, as Sadiq Khan has in London, buying people cars bought before a certain date, and giving them a nominal scrapping fee.

"You know what happens if you're poor? You can't afford to buy another car with the money. With the cost of living as it is, people can ill afford more costs at the moment."

Dr Murray said that council had been growing more receptive to lobbying from climate groups like Climate Action Wagga, and the roadmap was a positive outcome of their discussions with council.

She said campaigning for climate action was dispiriting at times, because it felt like nobody would take responsibility for leading the way.

"Council are doing a lot to reduce their own footprint. The issue now is how to get the whole community to reduce their footprint. That's a lot harder," she said.

"I get despondent when there's all this talk happening, and no concrete action on the ground.

"I'm really concerned we're not having that big, broad spectrum conversation about what we're going to do, and how we're going to do it."

She and Cr Foley differ on the role of gas though. While both agree the phaseout of gas is inevitable, Cr Foley said acting before the state and federal government had formulated policies on gas would result in legal challenges.

He said he didn't want to see ratepayer money wasted defending a policy council never had the right to implement.

"I see big problems coming with developers and others who say 'we want this here, and you don't have the right to tell us not to do it'," he said.

"They'd challenge us in the courts, and I believe they would succeed because there's no statutory requirement to do so at this point in time from the state of NSW, let alone on a federal level.

"Victoria has done it, so now local government can act there, but my view is we can't act on this before the state."

Waverley Council introduced a ban on gas connections to new residential developments in 2022 and the policy has not been successfully challenged.

Dr Murray said documents like the Net Zero Emissions 2050 Roadmap were important in informing the community about what they could choose to do, but the only way forward was leaders choosing to lead.

"I think council could be advocating for incentives to help people get over the line," she said.

"People advocating reducing carbon emissions aren't advocating a 'stick' approach at all - I just can't imagine that happening any time soon.

"How could we help people who are renting? Can we retrofit peoples homes? We really have to start looking at adaptation too, because climate change is here now."

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