MOUNT Gambier City Council made the correct decision last week when it voted not to condemn new conventional gas and oil exploration licences in the Great Australian Bight.
The vote was split four-all with mayor Lynette Martin casting her vote against supporting the issue after a deputation of the Limestone Coast Protection Alliance presented its argument to council.
The vote was correct on several fronts but firstly and most importantly council has no mandate on this issue and because councillors have not canvassed ratepayers’ views, they have no right to act on their behalf.
In recent times, councils are moving too far beyond “rates, roads and rubbish” and involving themselves in political issues where they do not have a mandate to do so and in some cases are guilty of trying to be the “social conscience” of society – that is not their job.
They are moving into areas which are the domain of governments who answer to all electors through compulsory voting, not just a few hundred votes.
When groups take up these sort of issues with councils it is like coming in through the back door and it is easy to convince councillors, who are sympathetic to a particular view, to vote along those lines without canvassing ratepayers and therefore possibly ignoring the majority.
Until council discovers what the majority support is on issues like conventional exploration drilling, it would have been more prudent for a responsible councillor to stand up in the chamber and state this is not a decision council can make because it does not know the views of the people it represents.
By voting on this it leaves councillors open to claims they are pushing their own political agenda.
When the Alliance started its campaign to stop fracking in the South East it tackled State Government and gained enormous community support.
Fracking still continues in the north of our state and in other areas of Australia while the world’s three leading oil producing countries – America, Saudi Arabia and Russia all use fracking to find oil, in fact America, which in the past few years has become the world’s leading oil producer, has achieved this only because of fracking.
Most in the community supported banning fracking, but are we hypocrites if we continue to use oil-fuelled motor vehicles and a fossil fuel lifestyle?
When the Alliance won the day to ban fracking in the South East, some tipped they would not stop there and sure enough, now they want oil exploration stopped in the Great Australian Bight and soon it will be all exploration.
But getting back to councils, for too long councils, particularly in inner metropolitan cities such as Melbourne and Sydney, have been taken over by minority groups such as the Greens.
As such, these inner city councils have become more militant by espousing the views of minorities and by using council’s so-called clout to change the views of governments, it is often misinterpreted these councils somehow are speaking for the majority – when often they are not.
In regard to whether it is hypocritical to advocate halting exploration and yet still enjoy the lifestyle benefits fossil fuels provide, Cr Steve Perryman said something of which we all should take note.
He challenged those who “look over the horizon towards a green future.”
Bluntly he said: “Go home tonight, take the fuses out of your fuse box, throw away your keys and not drive a car, get rid of all of the petroleum and all of the fossil fuel material out of your house.
“There are words that make me turn off, climate emergency is one of them, global warming is another.”
In those few sentences Cr Perryman certainly left no doubt about his views.
In the vote, Crs Hood, Perryman, Greco and Jenner voted against support and it was carried on the casting vote of mayor Martin.
Council got this right but missed a couple of important points.
Firstly, council heard only one side of the argument and secondly, the fact is, it is not an issue for local government – it’s a national issue and should be left to electors to vote for the political party that puts up a policy with which they can agree or disagree.
Footnote: Well done to Grant District Council for finally making a stand on the prison. Mount Gambier needs your voice.
