The Garnaut Report and Local Government

There has been a great deal of media speculation over the past week about the Emissions Trading Schemes (ETS) and the Garnaut Climate Change Review.

The Garnaut Review was commissioned by the State and Territory Governments in April 2007 and was joined by the Commonwealth after the Federal election. The Review was required to examine the impacts of climate change on the Australian economy and to recommend medium to long term policies and policy frameworks to improve the prospects of sustainable prosperity. The report is still in draft form and does not yet contain specific recommendations. Further economic modeling is being undertaken jointly with the Federal Treasury on the impacts of global warming and ETS on the Australian economy.

The Local Government Roads and Transport Strategy 2006-2016, developed over a number of Roads and Transport Congresses by delegates, provides a way forward for urban transport. It calls for the federal and state/territory governments to work with local government to implement a whole of government apporach to urban and regional transport issues. This would involve investment in urban public transport initiatives and improving services in outer metropolitan areas that are public transport poor with an emphasis on addressing congestion, land use and coordinated transport planning. Freight management is the other element, emphasised at the Shepparton Congress in June, with local government calling for the revitalisation of rail so that it can perform to its full potential.

The Federal Government has announced that it is committed to commencing an ETS in 2010 and will be releasing a Green Paper (a discussion or options paper) as early as next week on how an ETS might work. The Government has indicated that it will take into account the Garnaut Review in framing its Green Paper. The role of local government, as the third sphere of government, is to provide advice and comments on possible impacts and implications for councils and communities. When the Government releases its Green Paper on emissions trading ALGA will be examining it carefully and providing commentary to the Government on implications for local government and communities.

Local government must be a key player in climate change initiatives, in partnership with other governments, business and the local community. Councils are already leading the way in climate change mitigation projects. They are at the forefront in areas such as: the Cities for Climate Change Protection program; innovative landfill solutions; Greenhouse Alliances and community information; beach front stabilisation; habitat protection; and education programs. There is increasing recognition of the need for adaptation strategies to allow communities (through their local councils) to deal with the effects of climate change and reduce exposure to the possible impacts. At the council level, measures such as increasing the efficiency of lighting, alternative technology for heating cooling and water treatment plants, and promoting climate-friendly built and natural environments (for example through town planning and building control practices), can be implemented. At the wider community level, councils can undertake environmental education/awareness raising, promote energy efficiency in residential, industrial and commercial settings, and promote alternative methods of transport and waste management services and policies.

The full Garnaut Report can be found at the Garnaut Review website

Community infrastructure promotes active living

ALGA, together with the National Heart Foundation and the Planning Institute of Australia (PIA), has provided a tripartite submission to the Inquiry into Obesity, which is being conducted by the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Health and Ageing.

An increasing body of research in a range of disciplines independently concludes a relationship between the built environment and health, and discusses the effect that aspects of urban form can have on levels of physical activity. The tripartite submission discusses these links, and provides an outline of the Healthy Spaces and Places project.

The Healthy Spaces and Places project, which has received funding assistance and support from the Federal Government Department of Health and Ageing, is a unique collaboration between ALGA, the Heart Foundation and PIA, that aims to highlight the importance of planning and health related professionals as well as those working in local government, to develop solutions together to physical and mental health, wellbeing, and injury prevention concerns and issues.

Local government knows first-hand the positive effect that the built environment can have on promoting active living. That is why local government for many decades has provided local communities with facilities that help encourage higher levels of activity, such as dedicated footpaths and cycleways, and recreation and sporting grounds. Ensuring such facilities are well maintained is critical not only to helping alleviate pressures on the public health purse, but to increasing connectedness within communities and social inclusion.

Previous years of cost-shifting have, however, led to much of this infrastructure not having been maintained to adequate levels. That is why local government believes the time is right for the Federal Government to establish a Local Community Infrastructure Renewals Fund. Such a fund would reinvigorate community infrastructure, and therefore the communities that rely upon it. The tripartite submission draws upon these points and the role that local government can play in promoting well-maintained facilities to the community, to help enhance the physical activity levels of all Australians.

The Committee, which appears likely to conduct public hearings across Australia over coming months, will make recommendations to the Federal Government on what governments, industry, individuals and the broader community can do to prevent and manage the obesity epidemic in children, youth and adults.

A copy of the tripartite submission is expected to be available on the Committee's website shortly, and is available currently at www.planning.org.au (via the Advocacy, Public Submissions link).

Further information on the Healthy Spaces and Places project, including a draft guide for public comment, and details of a free consultation workshop to be held in Brisbane on 23 July 2008, is available via the link on ALGA's homepage at www.alga.asn.au.

Greens weigh in on climate change

Greens Leader Senator Bob Brown laid down the gauntlet for the Government and the Opposition at the National Press Club this week, with a steely resolve to use the party's Senate numbers to force through tough emissions targets.

Senator Brown began by challenging the belief that an Emissions Trading Scheme would have a detrimental effect on the economy, saying that Australia could lead the way with new technologies and save jobs by protecting icons like the Great Barrier Reef from environmental devastation as a result of global warming. "It is unconscionable for us not to act, and urgently," he said.

He said he was concerned that the Rudd Government would be 'too tentative and effective' and not cut greenhouse gas emissions deep enough or go far enough. Australia should have an emissions trading scheme which aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 40% below 1990 levels by 2020, and 90% by 2050. The Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, has stuck by the Government's promised start-up date of 2010 and the G8 group of industrialised nations this week set a goal of halving greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 which ties the US for the first time to a global target, though President Bush has made this conditional on the participation of China and India. During the election campaign, Labor set a target of 60 per cent of 2000 levels, by 2050.

"If the Rudd government falls short of these targets we will move to amend the legislation when it enters the Senate," Senator Brown said. He said the Greens would amend the legislation to include: a mandated renewable energy target, solar hot water and insulation for all households, more public transport and bikeways, to harness the potential of geothermal and base load solar power, and an end to wood-chipping of native forests. He said that the Greens supported 'feed-in laws' as was the case in Germany where people who generate renewable power would be paid 4 times that of coal generators when it was sold back to the energy grid. He also questioned the level of funding for rail and public transport, with 75% of the transport budget going to roads compared to 24% for rail and public transport.

The balance of power is shaping up to be the defining issue in the new Parliament. The Government has 32 Senate votes as opposed to the Coalition's 37. To gain a majority of 39, the Government needs 7 extra votes in a 76-seat Senate. There are 5 Greens and 2 Independents (Family First and Senator Nick Xenophon).

From the President

There has been a great deal of media speculation over the past week about an Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) and the Garnaut Climate Change Review. Though Professor Ross Garnaut has an optimistic tone throughout much of his report, the underlying message is bleak. Unless we act soon, we will not be able to implement the changes and actions require to avert the large-scale disaster ahead.

ALGA and myself have been putting much thought into how local government can and should be involved. The State of the Regions report 2007-08 commissioned by ALGA from National Economics showed the differing impacts of a carbon trading scheme between rural and regional Australia and the cities, with the conclusion that rural and regional Australia would face the greatest hardship when considering the combined impact of climate change, water and lost agriculture. In his report, Garnaut says the effects of an ETS, if left uncorrected, would fall heavily on low-income households which spend much higher proportions of their incomes than other households on emissions-intensive products. These are issues which will need to be grappled with by the Federal Government in its Green Paper.

A recent Morgan poll in May found that the majority of Australians rate the environment as the biggest issue confronting Australia and the world. It rates higher than the economy, education or terrorism. I believe, as the third sphere of government that we must take a sophisticated stand on climate change. We should lead the way by encouraging behavioural change.

I believe it would be morally wrong to simply focus on self-interest. We have a responsibility to respond in a clear, considered and cooperative manner, working with the other spheres of government. This is what our ratepayers and the broader Australian public wants us to do. We should be careful of coming out too early with a knee-jerk reaction which sidelines us in what is the most important challenge currently facing our planet. There are likely to be opportunities as well as challenges under an ETS for councils. Pricing carbon will increase some costs, however I have heard some talk of the possibility for councils to create wind farms and carbon sinks that could be used to produce carbon credits that are tradable under an emissions scheme.

The Federal Government has announced that it is committed to commencing an ETS in 2010 and will be releasing a Green Paper (a discussion or options paper) later this month on how an ETS might work. The Government has indicated that it will take into account the Garnaut Review in framing its Green Paper.

The concept behind an ETS is simple:

• The cost of emitting greenhouse gases is currently not charged for but if a charge was imposed it will lead to new technologies and changes in behavior by individuals and firms to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
• The charge (imposed by requiring a permit to be purchased) would be collected at the most convenient point in the production process eg at refinery gate or at the electricity generating facility and then passed on to consumers in the form of higher prices;
• There would a cap on the amount of discharge of green house gas allowed ie the number of permits would be limited; and
• Permits could be traded between emitters eg an electricity generator that installs new technology to reduce emissions would have surplus permits that could be sold to other emitters.

The complexity and difficulty comes from the implementation and administration of scheme of this nature and the differing impacts on the community and industry. Some key questions that the Government has to wrestle with include:

• The timing and phasing in of a scheme? (Garnaut favours an introduction as soon as possible with a relatively short phase in period);
• Which sectors of the economy will require permits eg will transport and agriculture be included in the scheme? (Garnaut favours the inclusion of transport but excluding agriculture initially);
• Should permits be sold or provided free of charge to existing industries? (Garnaut favors the auctioning of permits);
• Should export industries have special provisions? (Garnaut favours some short term adjustment assistance funded from the sale of permits)
• What to do with the funds raised from the sale of permits (Garnaut favours the use of the funds to assist low income earners, research and short term adjustment assistance to some industries);
• Impacts on low income earners? (Garnaut favours compensation through the tax system and investment in public transport);
• The level of permitted greenhouse gas emissions and the rate of reduction? (Garnaut is yet to make specific recommendations but they would need to match and meet international targets).

These are difficult issues that are clearly the responsibility of the Federal Government. There are many vested interest groups with views on these other associated issues very actively letting the Government know their positions.

The role of local government, as the third sphere of government, is to provide advice and comments on possible impacts and implications for councils and communities. When the Government releases its Green Paper on emissions trading ALGA will be examining it carefully and providing commentary to the Government on implications for local government and communities.

The full Garnaut Report can be found here.

I urge you all to read it - we must be part of the solution, not part of the problem. Otherwise we will be failing in our duty, not just as elected representatives, but as mothers and fathers, sons and daughters, and in the case of myself and my wife Ruth, as grandparents.

Cr Paul Bell AM
ALGA President

Quote of the week

"To ourselves, we are great. Yet most of us live life without making a stand, contented to blend into the background of self-rendering nothingness, and when looking back feel contented at our mediocre accomplishments. Nobody remembers the person who conformed out of inadequacy. Nobody notices a patch of grass, they see the tree."
Wayne Burrow, Philosopher

International news  

Cyclists are to be allowed to ride the wrong way up one-way streets - but motorists will face prosecution if a collision occurs.

The pilot scheme is to be trialled in London after a recent boom in the popularity of cycling.

It will also reflect the fact that many riders already dodge the wrong way down short roads, as Tory leader David Cameron was caught doing in March.

The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea will test the system on six residential streets and the roads will be two-way for bicycle riders but one-way for motor vehicles.

"Cycle contraflows" already exist in some parts of the country but they are relatively rare as they require extensive changes to the road markings.

Conservative-controlled Kensington and Chelsea council hopes to mark the streets covered by the new scheme simply by changing the signs at the ends of the roads.

There will be no dividing line between drivers and cyclists because the councillors think it will be safer to let them find their own way past each other.

Daniel Moylan, deputy leader of the council, said: "We are recognising the reality that cyclists prefer to take the shortest route through quieter streets.

"The alternative of having a policeman standing on the road to catch cyclists would be foolish and unworkable."

Roger Geffen, of the Cyclists' Touring Club, said: "The alternative to cycling the wrong way down a one-way street is often to use a much less safe busy road." (AAP)

Forthcoming events

For a full listing of forthcoming events, see ALGA's Events calendar.

• 15 - 16 February 2011 Behaviour Change Workshop with Doug McKenzie-Mohr
• 16 - 17 February 2011 Enabling meaningful change through community engagement
• 23 - 24 February 2001 Evolving Models of Governance and Accountability
• 25 February 2011 Future housing for older Australians
• 02 - 04 March 2011 Census | beyond the count
• 06 - 09 March 2011 PIA National Congress
• 09 - 11 March 2011 LGSA Tourism Conference 2011
• 21 - 23 March 2011 Industrial & commercial Waste Recycling 2011
• 28 - 29 March 2011 Traffic Theory workshop
• 30 - 31 March 2011 3rd Annual Water Leaders Congress