Federal government tells City of Sydney Mayor Clover Moore to rein in council’s travel spending
Lord Mayor Clover Moore has been told by the federal government to rein in the hundreds of thousands of dollars her council is spending on international and domestic travel if she is serious about lecturing Australia on climate change.
NSW
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Lord Mayor Clover Moore has been told by the federal government to rein in the hundreds of thousands of dollars her council is spending on international and domestic travel if she is serious about lecturing Australia on climate change.
A few weeks after Ms Moore wrote a letter to the government saying Australia was facing a “climate emergency”, Energy Minister Angus Taylor has returned fire with his own letter, urging her to consider her own contribution.
“You might be interested to know that there are many practical ways local councils can take real and meaningful action to reduce their carbon emissions,” Mr Taylor says.
The Daily Telegraph has been told City of Sydney Council’s $300,000 a year outlay on flights outstrips that of Australia’s foreign ministers. In Julie Bishop’s final six months she spent $77,000 on flights, while Marise Payne has spent $162,000.
The council has relatively limited business internationally. In February this year, Ms Moore and council staff spent $39,000 on one trip alone, travelling to Paris for the Women4Climate Conference.
In his letter Mr Taylor claims the council spent more than $15 million on domestic and international travel, figures Ms Moore refuted.
“One such example is to limit unnecessary air travel. Given your most recent annual report shows your council spent $1.7 million on international travel and $14.2 million on domestic travel, there is a real opportunity for your council to make a meaningful contribution to reducing Australia’s emissions,” he writes.
The earlier part of the letter thanks the Lord Mayor for her correspondence and outlines what the federal government is doing to reduce emissions, with Mr Taylor saying he took the issue seriously.
The letter is a response to a two-page missive from Ms Moore dated August 22 in which she told the government it must treat climate change as a “national emergency” and lead the transition to renewables and a low-carbon economy.
The Lord Mayor last night defended her council’s travel expenditure.
“Just because he ignores the facts on climate change, doesn’t mean the minister can make up figures to distract Australians from his failure of leadership,” she said.
“The City of Sydney spent less than $300,000 in travel and accommodation expenses in the 2017-18 financial year.”
And Ms Moore said it was “deeply concerning” Mr Taylor was focusing on a “petty fight” about council spending:
“He should focus on reducing emissions and providing reliable energy, not making up figures about travel by local government officials.”