Climate Change Fund under review after host of council grants
A fund designed to help local councils address climate change will be reviewed after a host grants were issued for bizarre projects including improving the “thermal comfort” of a local shopping strip. IS YOUR COUNCIL ON THE LIST
NSW
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A council was given $35,000 from a State government climate change fund to study the “microclimate” of a local shopping strip to improve its “thermal comfort”.
The grant to Blacktown City Council was among several totalling more than $1 million handed out to councils from the controversial NSW Climate Change Fund.
Other grants were to turn community halls into “heat refuges” while funding was also handed to a council to test education programs to help the public avoid being struck down by a mosquito-borne virus.
With electricity companies and Sydney Water forced to contribute to the fund — and thereby pushing up utility bills — Energy and Environment Minister Matt Kean said it was time to review the grants.
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“I’m all for the Fund if it’s going to tackle climate change, but don’t hang out grants for airconditioning and bushfire management,” he said.
“The public expect that the Fund is being used appropriately, and I will be reviewing it to ensure this is happening.”
The funding for Dawson Mall in Mt Druitt was among a raft of grants issued to councils as part of Round 1 of the Fund’s “Increasing Resilience to Climate Change (IRCC)” scheme.
Round 1 received 29 applications totalling $3.8 million with the 10 successful applications receiving just over $1 million.
Applications for Round 2 funding closed September 2.
The microclimates study will be undertaken of Dawson Mall, an outdoor retail area not far from Westfield Mount Druitt.
It will also involve a demonstration site of “urban cooling interventions” in open shopping malls.
Another council to receive a grant in the first round included Bega Valley Shire Council, which received $110,000 to allow the towns of Bemboka, Quaama and Wyndham to become more climate resistant.
Under the council’s “cooler places for a warmer climate” project, community halls in the town would be upgraded so that they could be used as refuges during “extreme heat days”.
A further $108,000 was given to the Western Sydney Regional Organisation of Councils (WSROC) to look at ways to cool down suburbs.
Tweed Shire Council was given $104,000 to test four pilot programs on focus groups to work out the best way to deliver an education strategy to reduce mosquito-born diseases in the Northern Rivers area.
A project trialling the use of recycled water in the construction and maintenance of gravel roads in the Namoi region attracted $285,000.
Established in 2007, the Fund draws money from Ausgrid, Endeavour Energy, Essential Energy and Sydney Water with the contributions determined by the State government each year.
One Nation MP Mark Latham, who has long campaigned for the abolition of the Fund, described the scheme as slush fund for councils to pay for shadecloths and airconditioning units.
The Nature Conservation Council has also previously pointed out the reduction in spending of Fund money on direct emission reduction schemes at the same time as an funding increased for “peripheral programs”.
There is also dissent within the Liberals over whether the Fund continues to serve its purpose, while some in the Nationals say the contributions are driving up power bills.
Under the IRCC scheme, $2.8 million will being given to councils in three rounds.
Mr Latham, who has been calling for the abolition of the Fund, said many of the grants were going to councils for “business as usual” projects.
The Upper House MP, who has introduced a Private Members Bill to lift a ban on uranium mining and nuclear facilities, said the State government would be embracing nuclear power if it was serious about tackling climate change.
“There is no need for the fund to exist. It’s slush fund,” Mr Latham said.
Originally published as Climate Change Fund under review after host of council grants