Bass Coast Council will start the process of getting category added to Nobel prize in Sweden

A south-east Victorian council wants to write to the Nobel prize committee in Sweden, asking for a new category to be added. Find out what it is.

Bass Coast Council wants to add a category to the world-recognised Nobel Prize.

Councillor Ron Bauer put the motion to council to write to the Municipal Association of Victoria, asking them to petition the Prime Minister of Sweden to add a “sustainability” category to the world famous prize.

The motion also included a section to add a local sustainability award to recognise a citizen who contributes to the areas sustainability.

Mr Bauer said it was “about time” people who went “above and beyond” for the planet were recognised.

Some councillors raised concerns about it being a “waste” of time and resources and beyond their jurisdiction.

“It’s more of an ego trip,” Councillor Leticia Laing said.

“The councils core purpose is to listen to the residents and I have not heard any calls for this.”

She added while it was important to recognise contributions to the issue of climate change, climate scientists won the Nobel prize science category in 2021 so the “current structure” didn’t “exclude” people winning the award for contributions to the planet.

Councillor Brett Tessari said he surprised himself when he decided to agree to this motion.

“I chuckled when I first saw this motion,” he said.

“But why not reach for the sky?”

Councillor Bruce Kent also offered his support for the motion and said he thought it was a “great” idea.

“Usually I would say let’s fix roads and rubbish first but why not recognise someone,” he said.

Mr Bauer said he wanted to remind council “even the fastest jets start from a standing stop”.

The motion was carried and council will now write to MAV to request they take the matter up with Sweden.