Decision details

Minute by the Lord Mayor

To Council:

I want to congratulate the Federal Government on the recent election outcome. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s victory speech was inspiring. It signalled that he heard that Australians want to see urgent, meaningful action on reconciliation, accelerating climate change and affordable housing, and they want to see the establishment of an anti-corruption commission.

Reconciliation

Thirty years ago, the High Court handed down its judgement in the Mabo case, finding that the Meriam People of the Torres Strait Islands, led by Eddie Mabo, owned Murray Island. The High Court finally recognised that – at the time of colonisation – Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people had lived in Australia for thousands of years and enjoyed a deep connection to the land. Accordingly, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are entitled to enjoy the rights embedded in that connection. 

I commend the Federal Government for committing to implement the Uluru Statement from the Heart in full, meaning it will:

·                enshrine a First Nations Voice to Parliament in the Constitution; and

·                establish a Makarrata Commission to supervise a process of agreement-making and truth-telling between governments and First Nations.

In my Lord Mayoral Minute of June 2018, Council recognised the unique status of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as custodians of this land and supported the recommendations of the Uluru Statement from the Heart.

In supporting our own First Nations people, the City of Sydney has worked with our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Advisory Panels – who have been our voice to Council – and our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander leadership team on a range of initiatives. These include:

·                the Eora Journey, through which we pay respect to First Nations histories, cultures and communities;

·                our Stretch Reconciliation Action Plan, which makes reconciliation everyone’s business at the City of Sydney;

·                our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander procurement, employment and grants programs; and

·                Yananurala, our story telling harbour walk.

Today I ask Council to reaffirm our commitment to the Uluru Statement.

Affordable housing

Access to affordable and social housing is essential for a diverse, cohesive, and economically successful global city. However, Sydney is Australia’s least affordable city. And our social housing stock has shrunk as the NSW Government has sold off valuable inner-city social housing in Millers Point.

The City of Sydney’s Local Housing Strategy aims to ensure 7.5 per cent of all private dwellings are affordable by 2036. To date, the City has collected $343 million in levies, and provided $18 million in discounted land and $10 million in grants. And though we are on track to deliver over 4,000 new affordable rental dwellings by 2036, we will still fall short of our target without more support from other tiers of government.    

The Federal Government has committed to delivering 30,000 social and affordable homes in the next five years. There are over 50,000 people on the social housing waiting list in NSW alone, so I ask Council to call on the Federal Government to:

·                encourage State Governments to set minimum targets for new social housing stock

·                establish a funding and investment model that substantially increases and improves the provision of affordable and social housing, including by directing funds towards the community housing sector, and

·                work with State Governments and Councils to identify shovel-ready projects.

Urgent action on accelerating global warming

After successive years of devastating fires and floods, Australians voted for action on the accelerating climate crisis. 

Climate action has been the City’s highest priority. In 2008, we adopted Sustainable Sydney 2030 and we made the commitment to reduce emissions in our own operations by 70 per cent by 2030. We did the master plans, set the targets and took action, and met our goal nine years early in 2021. The City is responding to the climate emergency by working in partnership with residents, businesses, and other levels of government to build a resilient and inclusive city. We lead by example, we influence the wider city area through advocacy, collaboration and partnerships and we report on our progress with detailed Green Reports that are published every six months.

We have brought forward our target for City-wide net zero greenhouse gas emissions to 2035 (from 2040). Under the previous Federal Government we believed this was achievable through the further expansion of renewable energy, working with our partner businesses and residents to increase the efficiency of our buildings, better managing our waste and promoting active transport, including by completing our bike network and switching to electric vehicles.

The most significant action we’ve taken to reduce emissions is to switch to 100 per cent renewable electricity. This was part of a $60 million, 10-year agreement with Flow Power to purchase renewable electricity for the City of Sydney.

I commend the Albanese Government’s commitment to reducing greenhouse gas emissions; investing in clean energy industries and modernising the energy grid. If the Federal Government delivers on these commitments, this may allow the City to bring forward our net zero target even further.

Following my Lord Mayoral Minute in August 2021 asking the City to prepare a report encouraging the take-up of renewable electricity, the City launched a GreenPower campaign to encourage residents and businesses to shop around using the Energy Made Easy site to find the best deal. I have written to Metropolitan Mayors encouraging them to join the City’s GreenPower campaign, and to date 18 councils have asked for our support to run their own campaign.

The Federal Government commitment to modernise and extend the energy grid, as well as support the development of new clean energy will further support our efforts to expand the take up of GreenPower among residents – and reduce emissions across the Local Government Area.  Renewable energy is the key to improving reliability and resilience to our energy system, and to bring down energy prices for all energy users.

Anti-corruption commission

I congratulate the Federal Government on its commitment to establish a National Anti-Corruption Commission.

COUNCILLOR CLOVER MOORE

Lord Mayor

Moved by the Chair (the Lord Mayor), seconded by Councillor Scott –

It is resolved that:

(A)      Council note that the Lord Mayor has written a letter to the Prime Minister, the Hon Anthony Albanese MP, congratulating the Federal Government on the outcome of the election;

(B)      Council reaffirm its support for the Uluru Statement from the Heart and commends the Federal Government for committing to implement it in full;

(C)      the Chief Executive Officer be requested to develop a resource kit for communities seeking to hold public forums to inform communities about the proposed referendum, and consider allowing City venues to be used for this purpose at reduced or no cost;

(D)      Council commend the Federal Government for its commitment to addressing accelerating global warming by reducing greenhouse gas emissions, investing in clean energy industries and modernising the energy grid;

(E)      Council note that the City is running a GreenPower campaign to encourage residents and businesses to move to renewable electricity and potentially pay less, and that the City is supporting 18 other metropolitan councils to run the campaign in their local government areas;

(F)       the Lord Mayor be requested to write to the Prime Minister to advocate for more ambitious social and affordable housing targets and to ask the Federal Government to:

(i)         encourage State Governments to set minimum targets for new social housing stock;

(ii)        establish a funding and investment model that substantially increase and improves the provision of affordable and social housing, including by directing funds towards the community housing sector; and

(iii)      work with State Governments and Councils to identify shovel-ready projects; and

(F)       Council endorse the establishment of a National Anti-Corruption Commission.

The Minute, as varied by consent, was carried unanimously.

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