Mayors from Wollongong, Shellharbour and Kiama urge government to increase climate adaptation spend
Mayors from across the Illawarra region want to see the Scott Morrison government step up and increase climate resilience funding in Tuesday’s federal budget
Illawarra Star
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The federal budget will be handed down by Treasurer Chris Frydenberg on Wednesday and the mayors flanking both sides of the Illawarra are hoping to see funding directed towards climate change adaptation.
Wollongong mayor Gordon Bradbery said the federal government needs to chip in if councils are to become more resilient to weather events such as the recent floods.
“The main issue is for the council to build appropriate flood mitigation and storm water mitigation,” he said.
“Responding and adapting to climate change involves big costs. Council spends around $110 million on capital works programs, [climate change adaptation] could easily take up tens of millions of dollars, so that would really bite into our capital works budget.”
Cr Bradbery believes many councils around NSW are frustrated with the lack of funding flowing down from federal coffers to support infrastructure, which he explained, is often the responsibility of local governments.
“In terms of my perspective, I would like to see more support to improve local roads and community infrastructure such as pathways and an all-ages playground at Stuart Park,” Cr Bradbery said.
“But for the bigger picture, and this is a view shared by many LGAs, we want more federal government financial assistance grants and for it to be increased to at least 1 per cent (of GDP, currently around 0.6 per cent) to meet current CPIs.
“Councils are very dependent on rates and charges and this would allow us to get on with core business. Councils, including Wollongong, are responsible for billions of dollars of assets, but we are only allocated a very small amount to get on with the task (of building and maintaining them).”
Cr Bradbery’s southern counterpart, Shellharbour mayor Chris Homer, said the federal government needs to heed the advice that spending a dollar on climate adaptation now would save two or three on recovery in the future.
Cr Homer said that, along with support for projects that decrease emissions and housing affordability, are the areas he wants to see Mr Frydenberg address on Tuesday night.
“I think the big thing for a federal level is financial support for climate resilience projects in this LGA,” Cr Homer said.
“That’s in response to recent disasters and also the changing rainfall patterns affecting local communities.
“We have ageing infrastructure that may not be fit for purpose that we need to deal with. These climate disasters, the data states, will be more frequent and more intense so it will be very difficult (to address) if we don’t get that support from the federal government.
“The second thing I would like to see is more support for creating and developing infrastructure to help reduce carbon emissions.
“The third would be something to support more affordable housing, be it financial or initiative support - that’s something I am driving for in this LGA.”
The cost of living is a massive focus heading into the budget, with news.com.au reporting the Scott Morrison government will temporarily cut the fuel excise as well as pumping out one-off $250 cash handouts.
Cr Bradbery said a myriad of factors are hurting councils across NSW and signaled that his counterparts all over the state would continue to struggle if the federal government didn’t help out.
“At the present time we are facing huge increases in materials costs and labour costs,” Cr Bradbery said.
“We are playing catch up after Covid and for many of us, particularly on the coast, summer has put us so far behind (due to the floods). There is also the international situation (the war in Ukraine).
“With fuel and other costs going up, councils will struggle to meet their infrastructure commitments, especially councils like us and those up north.”
Kiama mayor Neil Reilly echoed the sentiments of the mayors directly north.
“Kiama Council has established a Corporate Emissions Reduction Plan that will ensure we get to net zero as a council by 2031,” he said.
“However, councils are also dealing with the impacts of climate change right now and we simply lack the funding and other support needed for repairing damaged infrastructure such as local roads, or managing clean-up operations, on the scale now required.”
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