Hobart City Council’s $25,000 bushfire donation

The Hobart City Council will make a $25,000 donation to assist bushfire recovery on the Australian mainland.

Hobart Lord Mayor Anna Reynolds. Picture: NIKKI DAVIS-JONES

THE Hobart City Council will make a $25,000 donation to assist bushfire recovery on the Australian mainland.

The motion to make the donation carried unanimously at last night’s council meeting. The funds will be donated to an appropriate charity that is yet to be determined.

The donation is in addition to support provided by council to local fundraising activities through in-kind assistance and the waiving of venue hire fees.

Deputy Lord Mayor Helen Burnet said: “We have these catastrophic fires that Australia has never seen. We have had significant loss of life.

“We are going to be seeing more and more of these natural disasters and we need to think about preparedness.”

Lord Mayor Anna Reynolds moved a motion for a report into the council developing an ember attack strategy, which again passed unanimously.

Ald Reynolds said a survey by the University of Tasmania showed that most people, even in bushfire-prone areas, did not have a bushfire plan.

Ald Jeff Briscoe said “with 60 per cent of our city covered by bushland we are vulnerable”. Ald Simon Behrakis moved an addition to the motion “to look at other actions that the City of Hobart could take including changes to the planning scheme and local area scheme”.