City of Port Phillip set to declare ‘climate emergency’ in Bangladesh

Another Melbourne council is set to take on the war against permanent flooding and mass species extinction abroad, saying the situation “should be treated as an emergency”.

The City of Port Phillip is likely to declare a “climate emergency”.

Another Victorian council is set to declare a “climate emergency”, with a Greens councillor claiming countries like Bangladesh, Vietnam and Egypt face permanent flooding unless action is taken.

The City of Port Phillip is likely to join councils including Melbourne, Darebin and Moreland in approving the symbolic measure that’s being pushed across local government by a climate activist group.

In a motion to go before a Port Phillip Council meeting on Wednesday night, Greens councillor Tim Baxter said that sea level rise and mass species extinction posed serious risks to local residents and “should be treated as an emergency”.

Tim Baxter is the councillor for the City of Port Phillip.

Cr Baxter cited claims by climate activist Philip Sutton, who said that places like Bangladesh, Vietnam, China and Egypt faced permanent flooding even if global temperatures were stabilised at “best case” levels set by the Paris Agreement.

Mr Sutton runs Climate Emergency Declaration and Mobilisation in Action — a group that lobbies councils and other levels of governments to declare climate emergencies and to ban “climate-damaging” projects.

It collaborates with groups like Friends of the Earth and Environmental Justice Australia.

Moreland Mayor Natalie Abboud is supporting the “climate strike”.

Gideon Rozner, from free enterprise think tank the Institute of Public Affairs, said that

so-called climate emergencies were a meaningless political fad.

“Does the City of Port Phillip intend to give itself ‘climate emergency powers’? Will ratepayers be living under ‘climate martial law’?” he said.

“Australia accounts for only 1.3 per cent of the world’s emissions. Victoria only accounts for part of that and Port Phillip a tinier fraction still.”

“Ratepayers should rightly be wondering how this pointless gesture will affect the earth’s climate.”

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The IPA is raising funds to produce a fourth edition of its book Climate Change: The Facts,.

which will feature authors including Dr Peter Ridd, a climate scientist sacked by James Cook University.

Greens-dominated Moreland Council has backed the controversial “climate strike” by school students scheduled for Friday.

Moreland is promoting the event on its social media channels, while mayor Natalie Abboud has indicated she will attend “holding a big Moreland banner”.

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@JMasanauskas