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.
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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