City of Melbourne under fire for declaring ‘climate emergency’ after councillors and staff took 31 international flights over past year

City of Melbourne has made the symbolic gesture of declaring a “climate emergency”. But when it comes to overseas air travel, staff and councillors are not holding back on their carbon emissions.

City of Melbourne Greens councillor Cathy Oke at the Resilient Cities summit in Bonn, Germany. Picture: Twitter

City of Melbourne councillors and staff are under fire for taking at least 30 high-carbon jet flights overseas in the year before the council declared a “climate emergency”.

Costing ratepayers more than $100,000, the travel included trips to London, Milan, Zurich, Barcelona, Los Angeles, Beijing and Osaka.

The council passengers expended at least 32,000kg of carbon emissions on the travel, according to the International Civil Aviation Organisation’s emissions calculator.

London is among the global cities visited by City of Melbourne staff or councillors over the past year.

This week, Greens councillor Cathy Oke moved a motion supported by her colleagues to declare the so-called climate emergency for Melbourne.

In an impassioned address to a meeting, Cr Oke said she was inspired by the thousands of schoolchildren who had taken to the streets to demand action.

“The reason I get emotional is that when I think about my daughter and what I am doing for Charlie, and if we don’t declare an emergency, I don’t think, hand on my heart, we can say we are doing enough,’’ she said.

The council declaration said climate change and mass species extinction posed serious risks to

the people of Melbourne and Australia.

Cr Oke has expanded her carbon footprint by taking several overseas trips in recent years, including to a sustainable development talkfest in Montreal, Canada, in June 2018.

Just last month she attended a “resilient cities” forum in Bonn, Germany, and in October she is due to return to Canada to attend the Ecocity World Summit in Vancouver.

Council did not pay for the German trip, but stumped up $2000 for the Canada travel.

City of Melbourne Greens councillor Cathy Oke at the Resilient Cities summit in Bonn, Germany. Picture: Twitter

Evan Mulholland, from free market think tank the Institute of Public Affairs, accused the council of hypocrisy for taking so many international flights while declaring a climate emergency.

“An emergency is a fire or a flood, not some gloomy emergency promoted by climate activists,” he said.

“Australia contributes just 1.3 per cent to global carbon emissions, Melbourne City Council a tiny fraction of that.

“This so-called emergency is an unnecessary distraction from council’s core business. Get back to roads, rubbish and keeping rates low.”

Cr Oke said all councillor and staff travel was carbon neutral because flight emissions were offset with carbon credits.

“With any work-related travel, we ensure that the agenda and activities justify the cost,” she said.

“In my role as vice-president of the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives, it’s important that I attend the annual board and committee meetings in Germany.”

Cr Oke said that more than 800 jurisdictions across 16 countries had declared a climate emergency including London, Paris, New York and Canada.

Former City of Melbourne chief executive Ben Rimmer.

Other council travel included a $12,467 trip to London in October 2018 by then outgoing chief executive Ben Rimmer to attend the Inaugural Schwarzman-Rhodes Symposium, and other meetings and speaking opportunities.

In September 2018, council managers Daniela Mazzone and Colin Fairweather flew to San Francisco to attend the Sales Force tour “Dreamforce” at a cost to ratepayers of $18,049.

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@JMasanauskas