Mornington Peninsula council scraps climate emergency plan

A coastal Victorian council in a high erosion risk zone has scrapped its climate emergency declaration and plan after a controversial split vote on Tuesday night.

The Mornington Peninsula Shire was among many councils to declare a climate emergency in 2019. At the time, the council passed the declaration unanimously and called for immediate and urgent action.

Beach boxes exposed to the sea at Mount Martha North, on the Mornington Peninsula.Credit: Eddie Jim

But on Tuesday night, deputy mayor Paul Pingiaro’s motion to overturn the council’s climate emergency declaration and its accompanying climate emergency plan was successful in a vote of six councillors against five.

The decision drew fierce criticism from opposing councillors, residents and one of Victoria’s most prominent environmentalist groups.

Pingiaro’s motion said future climate-related proposals that would previously have been supported by the climate emergency plan would now be subject to an itemised budget or council report.

During the meeting, Pingiaro insisted the motion was not about denying climate change.

The Sorrento beach shoreline, on the Mornington Peninsula, is at high risk of coastal erosion.Credit: Joe Armao

“It’s about facing a fiscal reality and ensuring our climate response delivers actual value, not just rhetoric,” he said.

Pingiaro, who was elected to the council last year, argued the council had failed to deliver “genuine value” after investing $11.7 million in climate-related initiatives in the past three years, including more than $4.1 million in wages.

He said the council was planning to spend a total of $534,000 on its urban forest strategy, which had not yet resulted in more trees being planted.

“That’s not climate action. That’s expense without delivery,” Pingiaro added.

On Wednesday, Pingiaro told ABC Radio the council had been funding dishwasher upgrades at private schools. He also lashed the council’s decision to fund a weather station trial.

The council’s 2024-25 budget allocated $2.1 million for climate action and advocacy.

But councillor Max Patton, who voted against the motion, told The Age the climate emergency declaration and plan had overwhelming community support when it was introduced. By contrast, he said, the community had been unable to express its views on the motion passed on Tuesday night.

“This motion has come to the chamber without any community consultation,” Patton said.

Patton said many residents had attended the meeting to voice their opposition to the move.

“The gallery was full and there were many people dissenting on this.”

Patton said coastal damage from climate change had already reached $5.1 million annually and was expected to reach $67 million a year by 2100.

Patton said it was appropriate to review the climate emergency plan but disagreed with it being scrapped altogether.

Another dissenting councillor, Kate Roper, questioned why the community’s views were not being sought before endorsing such significant change. Tuning in to the meeting remotely, Roper said there was a gallery of highly emotional residents.

The Mornington Peninsula Shire has scrapped its climate emergency declaration and climate emergency plan. Credit: Simon Schluter

But mayor Anthony Marsh backed the motion. “I find it really insulting when people suggest that questioning spending in this area makes you ideologically charged,” he said.

Marsh insisted the change would result in greater transparency on the council’s spending.

Councillor Michael Stephens, who opposed the motion, said requiring every climate action to come with its own report might sound financially responsible, but would create fragmentation and inefficient processes.

“It makes it easier to delay, to defund and to quietly shelve vital projects without scrutiny,” he told the meeting.

Save Westernport president Jane Carnegie, who lives in the Mornington Peninsula hamlet of Somers, said she was disgusted and appalled by the council’s motion.

She rejected suggestions the council’s spending on climate initiatives was wasteful, saying it was a minuscule amount of the overall budget.

Carnegie said some councillors with conservative agendas had been elected in the 2024 elections, which resulted in the motion being passed. But she said the decision to rescind the declaration showed those councillors were not listening to their community.

“It shows a complete disregard of who they’re supposed to represent,” she said. “Many people in this shire are deeply concerned about climate change.”

Credit: Matt Golding

In 2016, the City of Darebin in Melbourne’s north became the first council to declare a climate emergency. Dozens of councils across Australia have since followed.

Environment Victoria senior climate and energy adviser Kat Lucas-Healey lashed the Mornington Peninsula Shire’s decision to scrap the emergency declaration. She said the declaration’s purpose was to ensure councils put appropriate scrutiny on their responses to climate change.

“It seems quite backward to be withdrawing that,” she said. “Part of the reason for the declaration is to make it a high priority and communicate that to the community.”

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