MORNINGTON Peninsula Shire will take a closer look at how ratepayer money is spent in its fight against climate change after some councillors claimed “wasteful projects” were not delivering community results.
Councillors voted in favour of a motion at their 28 January meeting for shire officers to prepare a report to help councillors make informed “strategic and budgetary decisions” regarding its climate emergency declaration.
Deputy mayor Cr Paul Pingiaro, who introduced the amended motion, said it was about “critically evaluating whether we as a council are delivering real, measurable outcomes for the people of the Mornington Peninsula”. “Ratepayers deserve to see how their money is spent and the tangible benefits it provides. Every dollar invested in climate must deliver meaningful action and results at a local level,” he said.
Pingiaro also noted while the council’s climate emergency plan progress report highlighted several achievements, “they don’t really represent all of council led actions”. “We claim credit for 2148 solar panel installations – yet these are driven by state-based incentives, not council-based initiatives. “And let’s not forget we’re the same council that declared the climate emergency [but] also built a gas heated pool. “It’s a great pool, a profitable pool but a facility that consumes approximately 50 percent of the total gas usage, effectively doubling our consumption overnight.” Pingiaro added, “we cannot claim to lead on climate action while simultaneously wasting resources on initiatives that do not align with our community’s needs.”
Mayor Cr Anthony Marsh also weighed into the discussion, emphasising the need for a thorough evaluation to make sure the shire was getting the “best bang for buck” to achieve “effective climate action at the local level”. “We are a country where we say we have a role to play. It’s whether or not we are using that money effectively,” he said, in which he pointed to questionable ratepayer funded cases from previous years.
This included a private school receiving a $5000 grant from the shire to buy energy efficient dishwashers, and carbon credits being used in India and China so that the shire could say it was “carbon neutral”. Marsh stated he believed the latter initiative was a “really silly thing to be doing with ratepayer money” and was ultimately abandoned.
Cr Max Patton said “every dollar in this budget must earn its place” after conceding climate change was a complex issue that required all levels of government, businesses, and the community to act.
He said research showed it was “far more economically efficient” to invest in mitigation strategies as opposed to disaster recovery, noting 97 per cent of disaster money across the local government sector was spent on recovery. “While we know that they’re going to get more frequent, we do not know when a specific storm event or coastal inundation disaster may arise,” Patton said. “It’s only when disaster manifests to a tangible outcome that we will be looking back, wishing we had done more in a strategic planning space when we had the opportunity.”
Through the motion, shire officers will look at cost-saving to households when carrying out recommendations related to decarbonisation and impact on their cost of living and health, as well as providing financial impact estimates of climate-related weather events, coastal hazard impact, and adoption programs on council. Input from the audit and risk committee will be also sought regarding climate change and associated mitigations.
The motion recognised the benefits of council-funded initiatives, including climate action “are not immediately tangible or measurable, and acknowledges and values these long-term and intangible outcomes”. “These include fostering community resilience, reducing future risks, and meeting ethical obligations to future generations,” the motion read. A list will be complied for budget costing of coastal structure repair projects that may be attributed to climate change. Additionally, councillors will attend a meeting in February with the South East Councils Climate Change Alliance.
A report will come back to council in April.
First published in the Mornington News – 25 February 2025
