CALLING on state and federal governments to do more to address climate change is not on the agenda for Wimmera and Grampians councils at this stage.
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It comes as more than 60 councils across Australia have passed motions declaring a climate emergency, the most recent one being Warrnambool City Council on Monday.
The region's mayors say it is something their councils might look at in the future, while others say they are more concerned about actions to improve sustainability than motions.
Horsham Rural City mayor Mark Radford said the council had not discussed taking a similar stance to the Warrnambool council.
"I think it would be fair to say most people in our community have a view on climate change," he said. "I don't think seven of us councillors could stand out the front and say we reflect the views of all of our community. I think that would be dishonest.
"I'd say there are different views on three aspects of it: Is climate change happening? If it is happening, what's causing it? And I think the third question is, if there's a voice that says humans are making a difference to the environment, what is the best way to tackle that? There would be varying opinions on that.
"All those three are easy to put in one bundle, but I think they are three issues which need to be thought about separately for people to come to a conclusion on where they sit."
Cr Radford said the council committed to sustainability by adding solar panels to its buildings' roofs, and had a good record in recycling stormwater and looking after the Wimmera River.
"Regardless of where you sit on the climate change debate, council does have a committed interest in looking after the environment," he said.
Ararat Rural City mayor Peter Beales also said the council had not discussed making such a policy statement. He said he believed if one were moved, it would pass - but not unanimously.
"You do sometimes have to make policy statements that aren't roads, rates or rubbish - but then you've got to do something," he said.
"If we went down the Warrnambool path, then what actions are we going to take above what we are doing now, and will the community come along with us? I don't like statements if you don't do something. It's like saying someone's drowning but we're not going to throw a line."
Cr Beales said the council was one of the largest purchasers of power in the area.
"We pay for the street lights, we're great supporters of the wind farm industry in the area, and you'll see solar panels on lots of our buildings," he said.
"As we've done audits of our facilities, we've upgraded all the lighting systems so they're more efficient, and we tend to try and promote developments that will enhance the environment and are sustainable into the future."
Northern Grampians mayor Kevin Erwin said the council was "more about doing" something to improve its sustainability.
"It's probably not something we've chucked out to the public in general but we've discussed it as a council," he said.
"We're more about doing something rather than talking about it. We've been making ourselves more sustainable for quite a while now with solar panels, LED lights and capturing stormwater.
"We try and be as environmentally sensitive as possible. Obviously the Bulgana Green Energy Hub is the first in the world.
"In terms of electric vehicles, we've talked about that but in country areas you'd probably need a hybrid. We've looked at putting in charging points too, and I think that will progress in time.
"When you look back we've done quite a bit."
Cr Erwin said the recent recycling debacle had damaged people's confidence, and emotive narratives didn't help bring deniers or those uncertain about climate change on board.
"You can get very emotive - all this disruption in Melbourne, it will turn people off I think," he said.
"You've got to be a bit careful in how you tread. You want people to come on board, not turn them off."
Cr Erwin also said Warrnambool's decision to use the phrasing "climate emergency" was "a bit dramatic."
"I think everyone's aware there's something going on," he said.
"But I think if we can clean up our act and make things more sustainable then that's a good thing.
"We live in a farming area and the most important thing to a farmer is the climate. They rely on that wholly and solely for their livelihood."
Hindmarsh mayor Ron Ismay said he believed protesters such as Extinction Rebellion - responsible for many recent protests in Australia's capital cities including Warrnambool - were going "too far."
"I think we're already doing things and if they want to protest, go over to some of these countries where they're doing stuff very badly and protest that," he said.
"I think the government is trying to address all this stuff. There are people out there who deny there is climate change and I'm certainly not one of those, but I think a lot of this stuff is guess work."
Cr Ismay stressed he was not speaking for all of the members of council and was open to the council taking positive steps towards addressing climate change.
"The biggest problem we've got in places like Hindmarsh is we're way too far away from the areas - the recyclables and all that stuff - so the cost of transporting that stuff outweighs the benefits," he said.
"Wimmera-Mallee Waste sends a garbage man to pick up recyclables and the fuel he uses for that truck, plus the wear and tear, to get here ... just outweighs any benefit.
"I really believe the regions need to get together and come up with some sort of mobile plan that would process this stuff on site rather than transporting stuff to Melbourne.
"I don't know whether that's viable - we've got a waste recovery group and I think they've looked at all sorts of options."
Yarriambiack mayor Graeme Massey said he didn't feel a motion declaring a climate emergency would change much "in the short term".
"But in the long term we really have to look at what we're doing," he said.
"We have such great distances here and road transport is probably the number one way of getting around and that's just increasing.
"So any approach we make to reduce carbon emissions will cause them to go down in one area but they will go up in another. We 'll need to sit down and work out steps."
Cr Massey said the council doesn't currently have any climate or environmental strategy in place.
However, he also said it's only a matter of time before the subject is raised.
"We currently don't have any but we've got our rural councils meeting next week and the Municipal Association Victoria meeting the next day," he said.
"We haven't addressed it in any of our forums yet but I'm sure it will come up."
Warrnambool City Council will now write to Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews and Prime Minister Scott Morrison seeking action on reducing greenhouse gas emissions and meeting the Paris Agreement target.
Countries who signed the Paris Agreement, among them Australia, must seek to cut emissions with the overall goal of preventing global temperatures rising by more than two degrees above pre-industrial levels by the end of the century.
Despite this, Australia's emissions have continued to rise.
In September 2017, the state government's Sustainability Victoria department released a report on climate change attitudes and behaviours in the Wimmera-Southern Mallee.
It found 87 per cent of respondents said climate change exists and humans were contributing to it, and 79 per cent wanted action on climate change from municipalities.
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