12 March 2019 - Ordinary

Hawkesbury Council's ordinary meeting of 12 March 2019. I'd like to begin by acknowledging the traditional owners of this land, the Darug people, and paying my respects to Elders both past and present. I will now ask the General Manager to go through some procedural matters.

Thank you, Mr Mayor. Members of the public attending the meeting are advised that in the event of an emergency, you will be asked to proceed in an orderly manner to the nearest exit, following the guidance of our wardens. I would also like to advise members of the public that in accordance with our Code of Meeting Practice, meetings of the Council are recorded. In the terms of the Privacy and Personal Information Protection Act, this may involve the recording of personal information provided at the time of the meeting. The recordings are made to assist staff in compiling the minutes of the meeting and to enable the podcasting of Council meetings. The provision of any information that is recorded is voluntary.

If any person does not wish to be recorded, they should not address or request to address the meeting. The recordings may be made available to other persons where such access is in accordance with the relevant regulations, and the recordings are stored on Council's record management system. For the benefit of those persons who will be addressing the Council tonight, it is expected that you will refrain from making any insult, allegation or personal reflection against any person, present or not at this meeting. This request relates to both your address to Council and any answers given in response to questions from Councillors. Finally, it is also requested that if any person in the council chambers has a mobile phone, that they either turn it off or turn it to silent.

Thank you, Mr Mayor.

Thank you. We have apologies from Councillor Tree. Would someone like to move we accept the apologies?

Move that, Councillor Richards.

Seconded,

Deputy Mayor. The minutes from the last meeting, would someone like to move? Mr Mayor. Before I do that, sorry, are there any declarations of interest? No.

Thank you. Yes, Deputy Mayor.

I'll move the minutes with an alteration, an amendment, to change to the wording of point 1 in item 31 on page 15 of the minutes, the notice of motion on Richmond Bridge duplication. The wording is up on the board, which was what was said. It was a change by an alteration. It's only a minor amendment, but it's to correct the minutes so that they truly reflect what was said.

Thank you. Any further discussion on it? Moved by the Deputy Mayor. Do we have a seconder?

Councillor Wheeler. All those in favour say aye. Declare it carried. I'd like to acknowledge the presence of previous Councillor Christine Payne in the audience. Welcome, Christine.

We now move on to

Item subject...

To public address. The first one is notice of motion number one, which is item 43, and we have four speakers. The first speaker is William Potter.

If William could come forward, please.

Good evening, Mayor and councillors.

I am William Potter. I am 17 and I live in North Richmond. Today, I am representing the youth of the Hawkesbury who are concerned for their future. Climate change is an effect created by increased greenhouse gases, an unprecedented amount of which are sourced from human activities. As of last week, scientists confirmed they are 99.998% sure the increase in global temperatures by a current one degrees is a result of human greenhouse gas emissions. NASA states there is no question that increased levels of greenhouse gases must cause the Earth to warm in response. They state paleo climate evidence reveals that current warming is occurring roughly ten times faster than any rate of warming previously that did not lead to a mass extinction event.

The climate is set to reach 1.5 degrees Celsius by 2030 if no immediate emergency action is taken. If this happens, climate change cannot be stopped by halting emissions. A feedback loop will be created by melting permafrost, which will release carbon dioxide, the death of plankton from ocean acidification, which convert most of the emitted CO2 to oxygen, and the dissipation of clouds and ice sheets which reflect heat to space. To maintain our high level of human development, we must remain below 1.5 degrees Celsius of warming. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, we have 11 years to do this. This is the climate emergency. This Friday, up to 100 students from the Hawkesbury and thousands around Australia will be striking from school because no government is taking the necessary steps to avoid the worst effects of climate change and treating the issue for what it is, an emergency Yet, councils like yours have an important role in this climate emergency.

As a council, you are directly linked to the community. Declaring a climate emergency will translate to Hawkesbury residents and reflect in their actions and priorities, and is the ideal form of leadership we would like to see from local government. Already, 340 councils around the world, 10 of which are in Australia, have led in climate action and declared an emergency response. However, this declaration, whilst important, is only the beginning. From here, council can work to protect the future of young people in the Hawkesbury, Australia and globally, as Sophie will outline.

Thank you. Thank you, Mr Potter. Would you be okay

With answering any questions, should there be any? You okay with that? Yes. Any questions? Apparently not. You must have spoken so well that there's no questions. Thank you very much. Our next speaker is Sophie Williams.

Good evening, Mayor and councillors. I am Sophie Williams, also representing youth in the area feeling the need to act for our future security and safety. The ways in which climate change threatens to affect the Hawkesbury include increasing frequency of bushfires and droughts in the region, according to the CSIRO, and decreasing rainfall, which leads to a decrease in streamflow, limiting the amount of availability to rivers such as the Hawkesbury, affecting both biodiversity, agriculture and livelihood. On the opposite end, heavy and irregular rain will become more frequent, leading to flash flooding as flood-related damage is predicted to double due to global warming. Increasingly higher temperatures would lead to more droughts affecting farmers all over the country as livestock feed becomes more sparse and yields from fruit trees will decrease.

Biodiversity will be significantly affected with habitat loss, increasing fire and droughts, and the stress of increasing temperature causing decreases in animal population or even threatened already vulnerable species like the gang-gang cockatoo, even in even Environment Australia states. There is no doubt that we are facing real and serious threats to our biodiversity as a result of climate change. Homes in the Hawkesbury may not be able to cope with the increasing heat and fire risk, making living in the Hawkesbury uncomfortable.

Average temperatures are predicted to increase by a minimum of 0.6 degrees to the worst-case scenario of 4.3 degrees. Days above 35 degrees are also predicted to increase to 4.1 days a year minimum. These are the reasons why a climate emergency must be declared to protect our future and the future of the Hawkesbury. Beyond this declaration, actions which can be taken to minimise the impacts of climate change in the Hawkesbury involve banding with other councils and promoting action at state and federal level, creating public electric vehicle charging points to promote electric vehicle use in spaces like the main street of Richmond and Windsor, declaring no fossil fuel drilling and mining leases, power stations in the Hawkesbury, planting up to 10,000 trees, developing incentive techniques to increase the use of renewables, green bins that stop food and garden waste from going to landfill which are accessible to all residents, more community vegetable gardens, facilitation of discussion and action groups in local libraries and community houses to address climate change and development strategies, reducing land clearing, meat-free Monday campaigns perhaps where school canteens stop producing meat for one day a week.

Promote less single-use plastic or even ban it where possible, and joining a power purchase agreement to make solar more accessible to the Hawkesbury community, like the Southern Sydney Region Organisation of Councils. As a final note, I would like to invite you all to join us on Friday to strike for climate action from all levels of government. Danielle and Mary have already contacted us wishing to strike in solidarity to our cause. It would be greatly appreciated to see many of you there. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you

Miss Williams. I was going to ask whether you'd happy to answer questions, but I don't think there are any.

What I'd like to know is where the strike is at. I don't think you said that, but maybe your next speaker will tell us. Third speaker is William Snedden.

The strike is on Friday. We're catching the 10:

30 train to Town Hall in the city. Okay. Thank you. Before you start, Mr Snedden, I'll just remind the audience that it's not permissible to record what goes on in here unless you've actually spoken to the general manager earlier and gained permission to do that. Thank you, Mr Snedden.

Thank you, Mayor. Upfront, I'm slightly past the high school stage, but I certainly echo their sentiments. I'd like to thank Councillors Wheeler and Lyons-Buckett for bringing this up. I would also like to start by saying I've been following our sustainability group on Council, and the Council is doing good work. We're certainly hitting the easy targets. The low-hanging fruit is identified, but there's still room to do a lot more. But we also need to be economically rational about what we're doing and not try to pick winners in trying to define what developing technology might be. We want to go with what's out there and running well. So Australia is about 2% of the world when it comes to population, but we're a first world country and we need to demonstrate first world, a good example to countries less well off than we do.

We need to do all practically possible for ourselves and future generations, certainly my four children and grandchildren, etc. I would like to see them not go through with what's coming up if we don't act appropriately regarding climate change. We're certainly seeing sea level rise already as being documented, and the Hawkesbury itself will be affected by sea level rise. And for those who think that's not important if you're a farmer, as we get sea level rise up the river, we will get salt wedge intrusion up the river. And certainly Councillor Rasmussen would be aware of the effects of that for his irrigation community. We're also seeing temperature rise. I'm seeing certain effects around here.

I have a silky oak tree in front of next door that hasn't dropped its leaves for three years, and I don't think it's just heat island effect. We're certainly seeing extended bushfire seasons. We're now considering all around the world that bushfire seasons are all round. They're not just seasonal anymore. And we've recently had a Blue Mountains conference regarding that. We're seeing out of normal fires in Victoria and Tasmania. Not to mention all around the world, Greece, California, etcetera. There are people being hard hit with fires that have never seen the like of what we're having now. We're used to them in Australia, but we don't get them all year round the way we're getting them now.

There's also problems with temperature rise regarding medical. There's heat stroke, heat stress in summertime, and also with extremes of temperature, we also run the risk of winter extreme cold snaps, etcetera. In houses that aren't well insulated, etcetera, that can be a problem in both summer and winter, and their effects forecasted from more energy in the atmosphere. Electric cars, let's get onto that. Where have they gone? Well, they've mainly gone to the Nordic countries, believe it or not. Scandinavia now has about 50% of their fleet, particularly in Denmark, have gone electric. They're being pushed to do them. And also the massive sales of electric vehicles, both cars and buses, are in China, mainland China.

All European car companies are now advising that they will be out of diesel and petrol cars by 2040. Volkswagen has just recently made an announcement. Volvo said that nearly a year ago. Also, these other countries are giving favourable treatment to taxation, roads, registration, etcetera for electric cars. Australia is doing nothing. A supply of a simple listing of some popular media is at hand. I'll scan through my news scientists for about the last two months. Let's just hold up a few of the things that are there, if anybody thinks that nothing's happening. Here's an article on climate change, a whole lot of things that you can do practically, 40 tips that you can do. This is the item on the new normal: Bangladesh, sea level rise, etcetera.

And we are looking at 1.5 degrees as by 2030, as our earlier person spoke to. Here's an article: UK flunks climate change. It's actually reached the stage now where around the world citizens are actually suing their governments for not taking what they consider appropriate action. Here's another item on sea level rise. This is also based on the recent international panel for climate change. Anybody that thinks it's not happening, don't buy a house closer than about two metres to sea level, and even then you're likely to get storm rise coming up. Another article on lessons from the deep past, trying to interpret what's going with climate change. Another article here from New Scientist on how to quit some of your carbon habits and do it fairly simply.

Another rather large article on trying to get the carbon usage out of the aviation industry. Electric aircraft are on the way, in part even hybrid aircraft. So there's a lot going on. If anybody thinks it's not happening, then they may as well put the aluminium foil hat on and go into the chook shed and hide. Thank you, Mr. Sneddon. Your

Time's up. Thank you, Mick. Are you happy to answer any questions? Yes, sir. Any questions, please, maybe nothing about chook sheds.

I could go on for a couple more minutes. I didn't mention my electric car, my solar panels, the 30 kilowatt hours I export today, as well as charging the car and running the air conditioners, etc., and not importing

From the grid. No, you didn't mention those.

Maybe I should ask a question.

Our fourth speaker is Mr. Michael Want.

Thanks, Chair and Councillors. We support the theme of the notice of motion, but wish to suggest an extra paragraph. Firstly, as the notice of motion says, we're at a state of climate emergency that requires urgent action. So we feel it is very appropriate for Council now to benchmark the Redbank development against the report that was commissioned by Hawkesbury City Council in 2012, a report on planning for climate and natural hazards. It's on the Council website, 2012. The report identified 27 risks to Council and its objectives across nine theme areas. The risk I want to bring to Council's attention is managing development to consider climate change in growth areas. We would think it would be very helpful for councillors, particularly those attending the climate emergency workshop, and the community to know how the report was utilised to benchmark the Redbank development, particularly 4.2, managing development to consider climate changes in growth areas.

The 2012 report indicates there is an opportunity to incorporate climate change resilience into new developments in growth areas. References to the report were made to the implementation of water-sensitive urban design standards into development assessment criteria is an effective way to reduce heat, particularly in Richmond, Windsor and other town centres like North Richmond. Such systems would allow for the capture of water and reuse, for example irrigation or as standing water for emergency responses. As councillors know, a number of the dams on the Redbank site have been filled in or redesigned. DA0498 that is currently being processed by Council staff eliminates two out of the three dams.

How does that fit in with this policy to provide systems that allow for the capture of water and the reuse, for example, irrigation or as standing water for emergency responses, as well as stormwater harvesting?

These actions aim to limit mains water use and provide resilience in times of drought. And don't we need it now? The environmental effects of the 96 trees on the site that are proposed to be removed will add to the record high temperatures, drought and other climatic changes we are experiencing.

It's interesting to

Hear, I think it was Sophie said something about planting 10,000 trees up at North Richmond. They're knocking them down, the big ones, 70 and 80 year old, the 96 trees on that site to go is every tree on that site. Higher risks to local environment and water quality are associated with extreme climate change projections. The Hawkesbury bushland is part of the Cumberland Woodlands. An increase in the mean maximum temperatures would alter the ecosystems, the flora and fauna it can support, and alter a valued community asset, in particular the riparian zones. Councillors, I know it's a long bow, but these are desperate times that need to be addressed in some form by councillors. As the notice of motion says, we are in a state of climate emergency that requires urgent action.

So the suggestion to add to the notice of motion is that council officers benchmark the Redbank DA0498 against the Planning for Climate Natural Hazard Report, due to the grave concerns that DA0498 will eliminate two out of the three dams, all of the 96 trees to be removed and 700,000 cubic metres of fill to be moved about, if council officers recommend approval. Thank you.

You

Happy to answer questions, Mr. White? Yes. Any questions? No. Thank you very much. That's the end of our speakers. Deputy Mayor, you move

The motion. I'll move the motion, Mr. Mayor.

Do we have a seconder? Councillor Wheeler.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I'll move the motion as is. I take on board the points that Mr. Want just raised, but I think that the motion is a broad motion, and the specific examples, the example of what he just raised could perhaps be a very good case study for when we workshop along those lines. So I think we'll leave it for that or for a further motion, because our motion at the moment is really the declaration of the emergency. And we do have an emergency, and any emergency calls for an emergency response, and this is something that has been lacking for decades now. So for too long now we've known the science has been there. I've been talking about it for at least four decades. I know I wrote an essay in 1979 about it, and so this has been going on a long, long time.

There's a catastrophe looming, or as it's known now, an existential threat to humanity, and this is something where we can play our part. Many countries around the world are taking various steps. Countries of different economic levels and doing all sorts of things. Today I was reading about in Morocco they've built a solar farm the size of Paris, which will power a million houses by 2020. So everyone has to play their part. It's no longer acceptable to have a Prime Minister carrying around a lump of coal in Parliament when we have to get on and deal with this action. So today there was a poll, this morning came out, that climate change is the top priority for something around 60% of voters in New South Wales in the New South Wales election.

So as the government closest to the people, we have to act when there's an absence of action at these other levels of government. Thank you to all the speakers, particularly to the young people who've come along and addressed us and told us of their intention to strike. They don't get to vote, but it's their planet, and we owe them to follow our principles of intergenerational equity by taking on board action on this very serious issue that they are confronted with and that they will see the consequences of for years to come. They are autonomous, forward-thinking young people to be addressing this issue, and I applaud them for coming and sharing with us tonight.

Thank you, Deputy Mayor. Do we have any—

Oh no, I haven't finished, so I was just turning my page.

I thought I saw your light go off.

Yeah. So generally, I won't go over. You've heard all the things. We know all the things of the raising temperatures, the acidification of oceans, the extended bushfire periods, all of the various effects that we're having, and that for centuries the carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere did not exceed 300 parts per million, and I looked up this morning's reading from Hawaii, which was 413.55 parts per million. So this is unprecedented atmospheric levels of methane, of carbon dioxide, and of nitrous oxide, and the impacts of that are what we are seeing when we see these very, very severe changes. We've lost 60% of our wildlife in the last 50 years, and that's a very alarming statistic. I just wanted to read you a couple of statistics of temperatures in our country where records have tumbled one after the other in this last summer.

So in Birdsville in January, there were 10 consecutive days above 45 degrees. In Camerowil, there were 40 consecutive days above 40 degrees. In Cloncurry, there were 43 consecutive days above 40 degrees, and in Bourke, there were 21 consecutive days above 40 degrees, with overnight temperatures regularly above 30 degrees. So these are quite alarming statistics. These are things that we've not experienced before. And when we say consecutive days, that means that there's no relief for the people who are being faced with this sort of thing. And how long until we recognise the impact on the capacity of people to work in these conditions, and the consequence in the reduction in productivity, the reduction in the ability to provide food and water security when you've got temperatures of that nature.

So for people who go from an air conditioned house into an air conditioned car, into an air conditioned office and back again, they may not see a problem. But what about people who don't have air conditioning, who have to work outside? What about our outside workers, or people battling the public transport, which in itself, with that level of heat, is going to battle to even be able to service the people. So some other alarming statistics. In January, Port Augusta had a temperature of 48.9 degrees, and on the same day in New South Wales, Hay had a temperature of 47.2. So the impact in those areas where they have fishing and agriculture and various things, that will not be sustainable. You will not be able to continue to have those industries and activities be carried on.

The prolonged drought we all know about, and we know that this has had a consequence of a greatly increased bushfire season. So recently I attended a Climate Council roundtable about the increase in the bushfire season, and it was quite alarming. So apart from the fact that we have a longer period of time of which we're having fires, so they started here in August and still are going, basically, this is putting a severe burden on our resources, because once we used to share the resources amongst the state and from the northern to the southern hemisphere, but as we know in California, they've been suffering the very dangerous wildfires, the very deadly and fatal fires that they had over there, and we can't rely on just having aircraft and things come from America because their fire season has extended as well.

So the impacts are far reaching. We're seeing fire where we've never seen fire before. So in Tasmania, in the recent fires, there was the loss of a lot of pine forests that had never been burnt before, and trees that were a thousand years old were burnt, and things like the King Billy pine, I think it was. The scientists are very fearful that these won't even regenerate because of the severity of the fires. So this is hugely, hugely— it sounds dramatic, but it's very dangerous, and it's going to really start to impact in a big way unless we really take some fast action. So I won't keep going on about that, but I'll just say that I was pleased to hear one of the speakers mention the eating of less meat.

I think that if people recognised how much meat production does impact on climate change, they may take that on board, even to eat, as Jonathan Safran Foer suggested long ago, to just reduce one meal a week where you don't eat meat. That can make a big difference if that's done on a global level. So I hope you'll support this so that we can move on to make sure that we take climate change and its impacts on board in all our decision making, and that we show our community that we recognise the level of emergency that we have and that we act on it straight away.

Thank you

Deputy Mayor. Do we have any further speakers,

For or against?

Councillor Zamprogno.

Thank you, Mr Mayor.

I want to chastise the mover and the seconder of this motion because what they're making is an overtly political gesture at a time where we have both state and federal election campaigns underway, and in fact several of the people in this room are candidates in that election. And it's taking away from what the community believe are our core business responsibilities as local government. Nevertheless, once we're confronted with the question of climate change, it is beholden to us as leaders of the community to express some kind of view, which is why I'm at odds about this. It's not as though I'm a climate change denier. Councillor Wheeler and I, Councillor Kotlash and I, are all people with scientific training, and we trust the overwhelming consensus that the world's climate is changing and that these climate changes are largely man-made.

But we shouldn't fool ourselves into thinking that changing our light bulbs to LED or putting solar panels on council buildings here in the Hawkesbury is the magic bullet that will mitigate climate change. I did a back-of-the-envelope calculation. World industrial carbon emissions are at about 9.8 gigatons, and Australia's contribution is half a gigaton. So it's about 5.46 percent of the global total. On a proportional basis, the Hawkesbury represents 0.27% of the Australian population, which means that, all other things being equal, we contribute 0.014 % of global carbon emissions. Now it's true that if you go to an authoritative source about what Australia's carbon emissions have been doing over the last several decades, you could go to the quarterly update of Australia's National Greenhouse Gas Inventory, and its most recent report in September of last year points out that emissions per capita, the emissions intensity of our economy, are at the lowest level that they've been in 29 years.

Emissions per capita were 34 tonnes per person per year in 1990, and today they are 22 and falling. Emission per dollar of GDP was 0.8 kilos of CO2 per dollar of GDP in 1990, and today they're at 0.3 kilos and falling. This doesn't sound like a climate emergency to me. The solution to these issues largely sits at federal and international level, through the covenants that we enter into with other nations, the initiatives that we support to develop sustainable and carbon neutral sources of energy, and the pressure that we put on other global emitters of carbon that simply dwarf what we can do here directly in our own community. The fact is that the single biggest thing that we could do to reduce carbon-emitting energy sources is to embrace nuclear power, and I don't imagine the movers of this motion supporting a move to Australia using nuclear power.

Australia has the largest supplies in the world of uranium, not to mention thorium, which represents the next generation of nuclear fuel, whose waste products cannot be reprocessed into bombs.

What Australia needs is reliable base load power, and that's why it's genuinely difficult for Australia to wean itself off coal. Energy storage technology has not yet advanced quickly enough for its widespread adoption, which is why power prices have more than doubled in the last 15 years here in Australia, and consumers are feeling the pinch. I think of all the benefits that would flow from better international action on climate change, and that includes not basing the tenure of our entire civilisation on the consumption of fossil fuels, which will someday run out, or the advantages of cleaner air and water, especially around our major cities, or indeed not forking out hundreds of billions of dollars.

to nations that are not friendly to us, and gladly take that money and then use it to fund terrorism against Western nations. But holding a workshop on the climate emergency here in the Hawkesbury will not solve those formidable challenges. So, I laud the sentiment behind it, and indeed I say to the young people that are behind me that I want you to be engaged and active in the world around you. And if that includes wagging a day of school to go in and see for yourself what the real issues are, by all means do so. But don't be fooled about what action really would fix this problem. What you're being encouraged to advocate for probably

Won't make as much a difference as you think it will.

So, I'm happy to support the notice of motion because its ultimate aim is for us to merely hold a workshop. I'm simply pointing out that it won't do what the movers think that it will do.

So, Councillor Zamprogno, you're supporting the notice of motion Is that

What you said

I'll vote in favour of it, but I'll point out that it's a waste of time

Thank you very much. Before we proceed, can I remind everyone we're trying to limit ourselves to five minutes in our speeches. The last two speakers have gone well over that. Councillor Reynolds. Yeah

Thanks, Mr Mayor. I wasn't really going to speak on this because I didn't think it was necessary, but following that little soliloquy, I think something needs to be said. I mean, every couple of generations it's left to our young people to shine a light and lead the way.

And regarding what Councillor Zamprogno said, I'll just quote Greta Thunberg from Iceland, where she said, You are not mature enough to tell it like it is. Even this you leave to us children.

The former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull abolished the national energy guarantee last year to reduce emissions in the energy sector for political reasons, purely for political reasons. Yet, contrary to what Councillor Zamprogno says about baseload power, a few days ago Mr Turnbull said, in relation to coal-fired power being the cheapest form of baseload power, he says, But it isn't. Today, the cheapest form of new dispatchable or baseload energy is renewables plus storage. We are now able to have lower emissions and lower prices, but we need to plan it using engineering and economics rather than ideology and innumerate idiocy. So I think Councillor Zamprogno would do well to take on his fellow party member's words there.

What we are facing, as the representative of the Marshall Islands said to the UN Climate Change Conference a couple of years ago, What you are forcing on us, you are turning your backs on environmental genocide. It's no difference. Your lack of action is tacit approval of what's about to happen. Even though it might only be half a percent, one percent, whatever it is, it's tacit approval, and that is unforgivable. Thank you.

Any further speakers? Councillor Richards.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I'm going to keep my remarks short and sweet, considering the others spoke extremely over time. The environment is important, obviously. But I will not be supporting the motion in this form. And I'll only make a couple of very brief points. This motion today is unoriginal, and it is a copycat and copy. This motion, almost word for word, changed a little bit, was put before other councils, including the Blue Mountains City Council a fortnight ago. What this clearly shows to me, in the lead-up to state and federal elections, that this is a directive from the Greens HQ to make sure that their councillors put these motions forward, unless someone can offer me an alternative reason why this motion is almost a mirror to the one put up to Blue Mountains City Council.

If—oh yes, there's the crowd. Councillor Richards is speaking. There they go. If we are in an emergency, I'm going to suggest something to the movers of the motion. Don't drive a car. Don't fill it with petrol. Don't drive on the roads. Don't use your iPhone. Don't have an iWatch. Don't wear your metal jewellery. If we are in an emergency, and you are saying that we are in an emergency, start in your backyard and eliminate what you're doing to contribute to that emergency. The fact that you are calling this emergency and sitting there as calm as you are shows that usually in an emergency there's a state of panic. So you need to demonstrate how it is an emergency, especially if your actions and the things that you are doing on a daily basis are contributing to the problem.

There is the hypocrisy of the Greens.

Thank you. Any further speakers? Councillor Wheeler. Well

Glad we haven't got political, Mr Mayor. That's a relief. It's an emergency when a group of high school kids have to take a day off school to remind the adults who are supposed to be governing the country that they should do their jobs so that these kids don't spend their adult lives dealing with an unholy mess. The lives that these people will lead by the time they are our age will include no overseas air travel, dramatic sea level rise, and mass migration of people due to climate change. Climate refugees are already arriving in neighbouring countries. If you think boats are a problem now, just wait. There will be coming in droves because they have nowhere to go. We are flooding their homes.

Food security, water security. The 21st century will be the century of water wars. We are already seeing it. It's been a major contributing factor in the war in Syria. The reason that this motion looks similar is because this is part of a global movement, not by the Greens, but by concerned citizens who are fed up with their state and federal governments being incapable of action because they are in the pay of the fossil fuel industry. That's why people are rising up. That's why these young people are telling us to act, and all we've got is some sort of lame political statement and some scientific views that were debunked in 1975. I mean, should I change my calendar? Good grief. As if International Women's Day from the Prime Minister last week wasn't bad enough.

Why council? Because council is agile enough to react. Because state and federal governments are not reacting, so council has to fill gaps. Because councils have no links to the fossil fuel industry. Because we are able to demonstrate early wins and build a strong power base with like-minded councils like the Blue Mountains and WesROC. Because we have an opportunity to show leadership, because our operations are diverse and close to the ground, there are wide-ranging opportunities for change and education reflected in planning for the future and reducing emissions. There is no magic bullet to this. It's certainly not nuclear. It's an emergency. The science clearly states that it's an emergency.

To fire back with that absolute garbage about don't drive a car,

Don't wear jewellery, please.

Every aspect of Council's operation can be used to act on climate change. We need a plan. It's best obtained through our CSP and our planning documents, as well as infrastructure, education, waste management, community support and education, energy procurement, renewable energy, town centres, tree canopy, investment strategies, how we ensure into the future what we build with, but most importantly, what our planning documents dictate into the future. This is the action that we have to take. It's our job to lead. If we don't do this now, when are we going to act? And if we don't act, who will? What will we leave these young people?

Thank you

Councillor Wheeler. Any further speakers?

Councillor Ross.

Thank you, Mayor. I support the Deputy Mayor.

I think this matter has relevance as the previous speaker— Noted, in our immediate environment, Council's been involved in a compliance matter

Some probably 20-odd kilometres away, adjacent to the Colo River, which would have a bearing, and does have a bearing,

On the temperatures that we're experiencing. We've also had an incident I am led to believe in the Kurrajong area in the last week, where it is alleged that certain property was levelled of its

Natural timbers prior to an apparent desire to construct a residence of some such.

The temperatures that we're all experiencing likely are quite extraordinary

In the last two years, I personally don't believe, in my previous 73 years, had experienced anything as severe or long-term in terms of unfavourable hot weather, and it continues. I mean, scarcely is there a night where a sheet or a blanket is required on the bed. Just quite amazing. We're impacted already. There's no two ways about it. I applaud the young folk for

Their raising themselves up from their studies today to address the Council.

Thank you. The community appreciate that.

Any further speakers?

Can I just say that as President of WesROC, I've been really proud to be associated with what's called the Turn Down the Heat project over the last couple of months, where we have been working to put out the message that not just Western Sydney, but all of Sydney can actually do something about the excess heat. And a lot of things we're putting forward, yes, they are reactions to the heat, but we're also putting forward that planning in future, planning by councils, should take into account how to plan better towns, better suburbs that address the heat in the first place. So I believe, yes, there are things that local government can do, and in many ways local government is probably best poised to actually deliver things. So I support this notice of motion very strongly. No further speakers. Deputy Mayor, would you like your right of reply?

Thank you, Mr Mayor. Just briefly, I'll just address a couple of things that were raised, and I firstly would like to compliment WesROC on their strategy. It's spreading well through Western Sydney. I've heard people all over who are taking note of the Turn Down the Heat project, and that's a great thing for people to be hearing about that. Just to correct Councillor Zamprogno, I am also a scientist. I spent many years as a research scientist. Thank you, Councillor Zamprogno. And Councillor Richards, I most certainly do not take directions from Green's headquarters. I have nothing to do with the Greens, and I don't take— Directions from anybody, in fact. I'm fully autonomous, I'll have you know.

So, and last weekend, I drove a nice Tesla Model X up to Port Macquarie to a sustainability fair, which was very good, and I have my own EV on order. However, things are very slow coming into the country, partly due to the uncertainty of the government and the failure for them to give the electric car industry any surety that they are going to provide the infrastructure and that they are going to support the electric car industry. So hopefully that will change before long. Again, I thank all the people who've contributed. I think that Councillor Zambrano has downplayed the importance, as Councillor Wheeler and the Mayor have raised, that local government can really contribute in a really tangible way in the planning documents, in moving towards getting us taking the action at a local level that we can do.

So I hope everyone will support this notice of motion, and hopefully we'll see some results coming out of it soon. Thank you.

Motion has been moved by the Deputy Mayor, seconded by Councillor Wheeler. All those in favour say aye. Those against? Declare it carried.

Anyone want their name recorded? No. Motion's carried. We'll move to the second item with public speakers, which is Notice of Motion 2, item 44. Our first speaker is Morgan Burnside.

Good evening. I'm speaking for you today to support the motion for Council to make a submission highlighting the negative impacts of the DA to rehabilitate Bell's Quarry. It is stated in the EIS that the project will result in minor indirect impacts to land immediately adjoining the site during rehabilitation operations. Overall, the project will restore the landscape to be more representative of the original landform and will be complementary to the conservation values of the Greater Blue Mountains area. This statement is highly questionable and shows that those in charge of evaluating the risks of this project have overlooked the environmental dangers that the introduction of landfill materials would present to the World Heritage-listed Blue Mountains National Park.

Because of the quantity and diversity of origin of such material, the safety of the site from toxic pollutants cannot be guaranteed. Given the site's extremely sensitive location, such guarantee is necessary if this endeavour is to be continued. The risk posed by the potential pollutants contained within the 1.2 million cubic metres of soil intended to be dumped places the surrounding World Heritage-listed Blue Mountains National Park at unwarranted, unquantifiable and avoidable risk. As stated in the EIS, the quarry is situated within the catchment of the Wollangambe River system. This location amplifies the potential impact of long-term groundwater seepage, which could cause pollutants within the fill material to leach into the river system, irreversibly damaging the river's ecosystem.

Another risk posed to surrounding river systems by this proposal is the plan to empty the existing water from the quarry pools into the directly adjacent tributary. This introduction of hundreds of millions of litres of water filled with nutrient-rich sediment will result in said sediment settling into the currently pristine pools of Warragamba, causing a biochemical oxygen event, a process which strips river ecosystems of oxygen, causing a similar outcome to what has recently been observed in the Murray-Darling Basin. The current unique biota of the Wollangambe will be decimated. The quarry's location and current water resources has also been proven to be of significant strategic value to the New South Wales Rural Fire Service.

During the Section 44 fire events that took place in the mountains in 2013, the deep pools of the existing quarry, which hold 850 million litres of water, were used by aerial fire units to combat the blaze and save the area of Bell from further fire damage, proving its value as a firefighting resource. The danger that our UNESCO-listed national park would be put in is unacceptable and is in direct conflict with the values of UNESCO, who nominate the national park to be placed on the World Heritage List because of what it is: an invaluable natural landscape containing thousands of complex, unique and fragile ecosystems that must be protected at all costs. We can offer the park the protection it needs by not wilfully placing it in the headlights of a potential ecological disaster.

The current risk level is nil, so why on earth would you increase the risk level to an unacceptable height and leave a trailing liability for local council

To check for leachate toxins in the surrounding area for decades and decades to come at great ongoing expense? There is no problem to solve here. Dressing up an opportunistic grab by company to use the site to dump potentially hazardous fill for an overburdening Sydney as a much-needed solution to an existing problem isn't good enough. As the quarry sits currently, there is no problem that needs solving. There is no risk to mitigate. The proposal is the problem, and it brings with it an unacceptable risk, and this is the reason the proposal needs to be rejected. Thank you.

Before you go, are you happy to answer any questions? Yes. Any questions? Yeah

Thank you, Mr. Burnside. Thank you very much. Our next speaker is Megan Lawrence.

Good evening. My initial comments are given in my role as the Secretary of Kurrajong Community Forum. Kurrajong Community Forum supports this motion. We have concerns about the truck-based traffic impacts of this proposal. The accompanying increase to traffic and noise and vibration for residents of the Bells Line of Road, and the increased risks for motorists using the Bells Line of Road for both local and longer distance travel will be problematic. We also note that the proposed 15-year time span of the project will mean these issues will have a long-term impact. We also appreciate Council's efforts to notify our residents and community groups of this imminent proposal, and we thank them for including us.

That ends my comments on behalf of the forum. So all the comments I'm about to make are of my own behalf. For the remainder of my time, I'll be speaking for myself. So firstly, I'd like to add to my previous comments about the notification of residents. I would suggest that Council consider notifying residents of Upper Colo in addition to the ones impacted by the road and traffic issues. Many residents of Upper Colo still draw water from the river for domestic use, and it would be helpful if they are alerted to the proposal, as it has a direct and long-lasting implication for the future of the Colo River and its upper tributaries along the Wollangambe. I would like to highlight that we are discussing a proposal that is purported to be a solution to a problem that does not actually exist.

This proposal is about an opportunistic quick fix for a privately managed for-profit waste management operation that is being forced into an entirely inappropriate and highly sensitive location on the edge of the World Heritage National Park. To make any assertion that this is about remediation and aesthetic improvement is duplicitous at best. The invention of the problem is to the sole benefit of the applicant's business model, and to the enormous disbenefit and trailing cost to the local Council, local population, and the World Heritage National Park and its riverine environments. In cost-benefit terms, this proposal doesn't stack up, and it carries a vastly increased risk level than that currently present.

The extinguished quarry is managed by Lithgow Council, and currently poses no environmental risk to the park. The water resources present have been used as an asset in recent catastrophic fire events. During its life as an active quarry, there was a net export of material, but no import of foreign material. So while it is presently an altered landscape, it is not a leaching toxic one, and so it poses no environmental threat, bar some very minor erosion that can be remediated with low-key revegetation works on an as-needed basis. In remediation terms, it is an excellent example of where the do nothing principle is the best option available. And at this point, I'm going to make it very clear that the do nothing principle is actually an accepted environmental management principle.

I don't want to be drawn into conversations about semantic use of those words. It is a recognisable principle. This is not a proposal to use virgin fill from one or two geologically matched clean sites to fill in a dry hole. The proposal plans to accept 1.2 million cubic metres of fill from an as yet underdetermined diverse range of sites on an as-needs, demand-driven basis, and place it into a former quarry that has significant groundwater flows already present. The range of soil types, development types, operators, and array of potential contaminants and nutrients will make this a high-risk, costly project operating in a very complex and multi-levelled, self-regulated environment. This diversity means there is no way to guarantee the content of the materials involved.

It will only take one load of contaminated soil or a well-hidden drum of chemical under a load of soil to contaminate the entire site. And before I'm accused of hysteria, this exact scenario has been documented at the highly regulated dump sites in Sydney in the past. When this sort of willful and yet cost-effective evasion of licensing conditions occurs, it remains undisclosed and undiscovered until it's too late and the environmental damage is undoable. Our local experience with PFAS contamination tells us once the toxicity is out there, it's very hard to remove. I also note from the EIS that PFAS is not one of the chemicals that's going to be tested for in this site. So if they're not looking for it, they're not going to find it, and they can't guarantee that it's not there.

We won't know if there's a problem until there is one, and then it will be too late, particularly on the Colo River. Self-regulation is a method of compliance here, and we have to look no further than the Opal Tower to see what self-regulation results in. The risk in this instance are too high. There are no remedies once this sort of contamination occurs in a river system. And do we really want to risk the pristine, iconic Colo River when we have a chance to apply a no-risk, low-cost, affordable do-nothing approach to remediation and end up with a highly valuable firefighting resource into the bargain? And on this basis, I would urge all councillors to support this motion. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms Lawrence. Are you happy to answer questions? Councillor Wheeler.

Thanks, Mr Mayor. A couple of questions, if I may. You mentioned, Mrs Lawrence, that we should contact the Upper Colo residents. What would be the best mechanism?

Also, Colo Heights has a progress association. Thank you.

That's the

Only, I think, the only incorporated group there. Thank you. But they are

Affected And you've spoken a lot about fill and the use of this as a dump site. What would you propose that they

Did with that fill? Okay . So there's a number of different types of fill. For dirt, just isn't dirt. So fill that comes out of projects such as, you know, big tunnels, the harbour, that sort of thing, really, in most cases is virgin fill. There's not a lot of chemicals there. It's a big project. There's a lot of fill come out of it. It can be tested regularly, and that is often used in projects around Sydney where documented clean fill can be used, and that's an asset, actually. It's not often that that turns up in these sites. This site is being proposed for the next step down of contaminated soil, and they cannot guarantee what's in there. You know, things like dieldrin have been used for many, many years in situations where there's no regulation to require people to keep records.

So how do we know it's there? You know, developers may be acting in their own best interest, but they may be acting in a situation where they don't know what's there. So basically they can't guarantee what's there. So I'm not saying that this is a problem that doesn't exist. Certainly there is some fill that can't be used in projects that could be better designed to include the fill that they've created, but there's always going to be a circumstance where fill exists. But if you're operating in a situation where you can't guarantee that every single load is contaminated, then it needs to be treated as if it is. So it needs to go to a purpose-built facility in a situation where the land's already degraded, where you can build proper access systems.

Trains would be great. Dig a very big hole if you don't have one. Line it with things like bentonite clay. Stop it leaching. Do world's best practice, and assume that it's a toxic— You know, the item and treat it as such. That is the only way that you can guarantee that it's not going to leave a long-lasting problem. Now, that's a very expensive prospect, but it's a real cost of doing business. And at the moment we're subsidising the development movement, and we're carrying the lasting load of responsibility on it. So I really think it can be done well, done better than this. This is the wrong thing in the wrong place. But we also need to be passing those bigger costs onto developers. You know, if it's not economically viable to dispose of waste from a project, then it's not an economically viable project in the first place.

Thank you, Miss Lawrence.

Thank you very much. Our last speaker is William Snedden.

Mr Mayor, Councillors, gallery, thanks for letting me speak on this. For those that haven't seen it, the community groups up in the... The mountains have spent some serious coin. This is in the Gazette and the Courier and other papers I'm advised. This doesn't come cheap. These people are serious. This is another bad idea that doesn't need to be done. In fact, it reminds me of something I spoke about just recently that also will need about 700,000 tonne of fill if the DA goes ahead along Freeman's Reach Road. Thanks to Councillor Ross for bringing this to public, this item also has some links to Notice of Motion 1 regarding climate change, because if this happens, 2.2 megatons, million tonnes of fill from way out of area is going to have to be trucked, and it's certainly not going to go be going on electric trains, as might be more appropriate.

So we're going to have diesel fuel being used. So if somebody would like to do the calculations, perhaps one of our science councillors here, they might be able to work out a rough figure in kilotons of carbon dioxide from moving fill on the Sydney Plain instead of locally if that was to happen. This, so 2.2 million tonnes of fill ex Sydney, it's supposed to be extracted natural material and venom to be moved over 15 years, 74 truck movements a day on average, supposedly. About 40% of those are going to be on our Bells Line of Road. That would equate, to my maths roughly, at about 30 truck movements a day on average. So that's extra truck traffic on an already problematic road, not to mention the extra traffic on Great Western Highway and the Darling Causeway narrow areas.

So we're already talking some money here, councillors, about risks of people being killed in the Hawkesbury, accidents, etc. Is Hawkesbury going to be getting payments for heavy truck... Truck movements along our roadways, etc. I don't see any of that mentioned. I haven't seen anything, not that I've read the full DA, so I'm partly relying on out-of-area information and contacts. I won't go through a whole lot of the environmental stuff. It's already been mentioned better than I can by the two previous speakers. I'm certainly very concerned about the movement of venom and extracted natural material. Our certifying authorities have been markedly reduced in activity. The EPA are virtually non-existent regarding these things, so it seems to be it's the proponent of the operation will be doing most of the certification.

And the risks, I'm afraid, with commercial contamination from sites, not just Elders, but Aldrin and a whole lot of other termite treatment materials that are— Lead from paints, etcetera going in with that fill, I just don't see it being checked in a proper, appropriate manner. Therefore, we're cost shifting. The developers aren't paying the proper costs for assessing and moving material that really shouldn't be there. Just moving on, the situation's moved on since the sand mine was completed. The locals are now happy with the natural revegetation, and the lakes are on the site. They've been used for firefighting, as was noticed in the 2013 fires. I'm advised that the former mine site was rehabilitated as per the original DA with Lithgow Council.

Further work is hence superfluous, and this is a money-making scheme with, I'm advised, very vague expectations for the end use. One suggestion heard was incorporation into the nearby national parks, but with an unnatural fill material in it and a very uncertain environmental future. So who would be paying for the land, and it's rather fanciful transfer, if ever? This is a bad idea all round and has both direct and indirect consequences for Hawkesbury Council and its citizens and surrounding sister cities. The potential for road accidents, etcetera, environmental, with all the truck movements affecting local residents, more CO2 generation completely unnecessarily, which leads us back into the climate change issues from number one.

We should be asking for those truck movements to be minimised. The movement of that material off Sydney floodplain, 150 k's roughly over the mountains, totally fanciful, commercially not viable. If this was a properly costed proposal, we really should be supporting our other sister councils in blocking this DA proposal. Thank you. Are there any questions?

No questions for Mr. Stead, and thank you very much. That was our final speaker. Councillor Ross, are you moving this?

Yes, Mayor. Do we

Have a seconder? Councillor Wheeler. Thanks, Councillor Ross. Turn your light on, please.

Thank you. We've had some very eloquent addresses from our public this evening, and I endorse all of those thoughts. It's quite apparent that the proposal being put before our fellow Lithgow Council is one which

I think we in the Hawkesbury find objectionable from a number of viewpoints. The idea that

The west of Sydney, or even further afield away from the city, is to be the dumping ground of refuse or building waste or whatever from the greater metropolitan area is quite repugnant. And if that's what the government has in mind for this area, they've got a hell of a fight on their hands in future. It is also one reason why we're concerned about the proposed sand mine proposal mentioned by one speaker there. The impact on Bells Line of Road is also significant because that will in part take it through residential areas, and we wouldn't have any control over the time of the movement of this material. So there will be attendant noise and possible material being

Falling off trucks and such like. So that's not very pleasant, and the people up in Kurrajong would certainly be

Left with a considerable noise problem as vehicles try to climb Bellbird Hill and such like. It's really a very unsatisfactory state of affairs that this should have come to this position. And I'm very appreciative of the efforts of my fellow Councillor Wheeler, who supplied a considerable amount of the documentary support for this as well. And to our public speakers, I don't believe that

Fault can be found in this. There is, of course, commonality in many ways with the first notice of motion this evening regarding climate change, because this is certainly contrary to those principles. It also has some relevance in terms of recycling, and that I know has been of consideration to staff today in other areas of The council's activities. And frankly, it also has implications in relation to the last notice of motion tonight as well, in a sense in an indirect way, but in a sense in a direct way.

That is with climate change and so on. So I do trust

That this motion will find support of my fellow councillors, and I leave it to your good judgment. Thank you.

Thank you, Councillor Ross. Any further speakers? Councillor Wheeler.

Thanks, Mr. Mayor. I'm wondering if, through you, if Councillor Ross would be willing to add a further organisation to point 3, namely the Colo Heights Progress Association as recommended by the second speaker.

You happy with that, Councillor Ross?

Certainly, Mayor. Certainly, Councillor.

Yes, he is.

Thank you. And I think that was an important inclusion from a local resident.

It's worth pointing out at this point that both Blue Mountains and Lithgow are opposed to this development application, that the Blue Mountains Rural Fire Service is opposed to this and wishes to retain the water in the quarry site for firefighting, that the EPA has come out — I was notified this afternoon that the EPA has come out in opposition and will be making a submission to Lithgow Council through the DA process, that local environment groups are opposed and wish to retain the thriving ecosystem in an area that has effectively self-rehabilitated, as we heard from one of the speakers, and users of the Wollangambe River are also opposed due to the potential for leachate into the water, the possibility of contaminated fill.

But the very real threat — and this isn't a possibility, this isn't the idea that somebody might unintentionally do the wrong thing or even intentionally do the wrong thing — and our first speaker stated this quite clearly: to remove the — to dewater the current quarry site will result in... Water draining into the Wallangambe that contains sediment and plant matter that will have a deleterious effect on the Wallangambe. Now, the Wallangambe is already under significant pressure from the Chatsbury Colliery. It's very well documented by Dr Ian Wright from the University of Western Sydney that that river is under serious threat. And if you go into any of its subsidiary rivers, you do find little bits of coal that have washed merrily down from the Wallangambe, and we'll see the impacts of water running from this quarry from the Wallangambe and into the Colo.

And as Ms Lawrence stated, Hawkesbury residents rely on the Colo River for their water supply. We also rely on it for tourism and recreation. It's worth paying attention to the fact that this isn't about rehabilitation. This site has rehabilitated. It's not the same, it's different, but it's still a functional ecosystem. This will effectively be used as a tip site. It may not be what we consider to be a tip, like our council waste depot, but it is a tip site nonetheless.

I appreciate that the staff are under significant pressure in terms of getting things done, and we keep asking them to get more and more things done, and our expectations are high. But the submission doesn't have to be lengthy. It can simply state the issues that have been listed in the notice of motion: the impact on Bells Line of Road, Richmond, North Richmond, Kurmond, Kurrajong Heights and Bilpin; the impact on feeder roads maintained by Hawkesbury City Council that we struggle to maintain due to heavy vehicle movement and traffic that tries to go around Bells Line of Road because of that heavy vehicle movement; the loss of bushfire fighting water; and the environmental issues including ecosystem destruction, potential for weeds and contamination, and impacts on our river system.

We also need to notify our own residents who will be affected by this. I appreciate that local community groups have gone to significant expense to advertise in the paper, to let residents of the Hawkesbury know what's going on and that they need to put in submissions. But it's Council's job to inform residents when things are going to affect them, and we should do that.

Further speakers? Councillor Sam Provdner.

Thank you, Mr Mayor.

Again, I'm not sure why we're discussing this because this is in Lithgow's local government area, and as relates the environmental impact of that site, that's a matter for Lithgow Council. We should, at most, confine ourselves to the traffic impacts of people on Bells Line of Road. So again, I've just addressed the numbers. I've done a back-of-the-envelope calculation. I'm referring directly to the EIS statement, which I have looked up and read. The notice of motion suggests that there'll be 2.2 million tonnes of fill from Sydney and Central West development projects. So the first point is that it isn't all coming along Bells Line of Road. The second point to make is that the notice of motion says 2.2 million, but the EIS clearly states that it's going to be a maximum of 1.2 million tonnes .

Well, I'm referring to 2.2 million tonnes of fill, okay, and I'm referring directly to the EIS. It says that there will be 74 truck movements a day for 15 years. On the basis of my calculations, that amount of fill could be transported in under four years. Furthermore, the EIS directly references a maximum annual tonnage of 140,000 tonnes per annum, which on the basis of an average axle tonnage of between 25 and 30 tonnes per truck means 11 truck movements per day in total. And again, not all of those truck movements would be coming along Bells Line of Road. Furthermore, the environmental impact statement says that this quarry will only be in receipt of what's called VENM, virgin excavated natural material.

The definition of virgin excavated natural material is material that's been excavated or quarried from areas that are not contaminated with manufactured chemicals or with processed residues as a result of industrial, commercial, mining or agricultural activities. So it's clean fill.

It's not contaminated fill. That's specifically addressed in the EIS but ignored in this notice of motion. I don't see any need for

This particular notice of motion. Could the audience please not get involved? Councillor Zamprogno has the floor.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor, but I didn't feel the intervention was necessary. I'm a big boy. But I don't see the need for this notice of motion, and in any rate, the numbers that seem to be quoted here are wrong.

Thank you.

Mr. Mayor, can I just correct the record, please?

Clarification, is it?

No, I don't need an envelope, thank you. Tonnes and cubic metres are not interchangeable terms.

Thank you for that. Councillor Kotlash.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I was wondering whether we had the opportunity of using our traffic model to be able to get some idea of what these truck movements will actually mean throughout our city. And I guess I was asking the question of, one, whether it will be ready in time. I'm not quite sure when we have to make this submission, right. So I guess there's two questions. Is the timing

Right? Question to the general manager. Mr

Hammett. Thanks, Mr Mayor. We could certainly look at the traffic numbers and input that through the model. We're just waiting on the finalisation of the report to come through next month for that, so it'll just depend on the timing, Mr Mayor.

Thank you.

Councillor Cottles, you finished? Any further speakers? Councillor Richards.

Thank you, Mr Mayor. I will be supporting this motion before us tonight. My greatest concern for the Hawkesbury LGA is the— Unquantified at this point, truck movements that will be in our LGA. Our Bells Line of Road probably can't tolerate an increase to that capacity of truck movements. So not only is that damage to the road, it's about safety to the other road users. It is about—everyone probably knows driving up and down that road, you get stuck behind one truck and your journey time doubles because you're just stuck there doing half the speed.

So even though there might be a quantifiable number in this motion or in the EIS, I don't think at this stage we are aware of what that's going to be. And truck and dogs are excessive. You can't always know whether that has been—it's going to be okay fill. I believe that this motion is actually sensible. I believe that we just simply, as an LGA, through our townships up and down the Bells Line of Road, for our residents that live along the road and for other road users, I don't think we can allow this many trucks to be on the road. And rather than talking about the quarry and its impact itself, I believe that that's, as our council, where our priority lies.

Any further speakers? Councillor Conolly. Thanks, Mr. Mayor. Like Councillor Zamprogno, I was a little bit reluctant when I read this to want to be involved in a DA that's actively being considered by another council, and partially for the reasons we've just witnessed, that we don't have the information in front of us that that council has in front of them, and we can't ask our staff to clarify when two councils keep conflicting information. And that's what makes it difficult for us to be trying to make a decision. However, I do note that the motion doesn't ask us to take a position for or against the DA. It just asks us to make a submission to highlight the impacts that it might have on the road.

So I think there's nothing wrong with doing that, with representing our constituents to make that submission, and it's up to that council then to determine whether that submission carries any weight and is correct or not.

Any further speakers?

Sorry, Deputy Mayor.

Just briefly, Mr Mayor, thank you. I agree with what Councillor Conolly just said. It's supplementary information for a joint regional planning panel consideration. I think that we have an obligation to point out the impacts that it would have on our local government area, as well as having concerns about the environmental issues which are in another LGA and, of course, doubting that clean fill, which is such a valuable commodity, would actually be being what's taken there. The truck movements are a very frightening thing. It would be like going back to the days of the 70s and 80s where we had coal trucks coming down that road nonstop, which was a frightening and very dangerous thing. So I think it's good that we put in a submission that, as Councillor Wheeler said, it doesn't have to be detailed.

It merely has to point out that there's an impact on our residents, and it's good for us to raise those matters. So I support the motion.

Anybody else? Councillor Ross, would you like to exercise your right of reply? Please do.

Thank you, Mayor. I just thank my fellow councillors in the broader who have supported the— Notice of motion.

I think there are some relevant elements, in addition to the concerns about Wells Line of Road and the immediate environment there, the broader implication that rubbish should be brought into our area or an adjoining area more distant from Sydney to alleviate stensible problems in Sydney is not really our concern. It possibly is a good reason for people in Sydney to be more mindful of the opportunities provided, or should be provided, in the way of recycling, consideration being given to construction waste, etc. Apart from that, I think it's also valuable

To support fellow communities who are joining our own LGA, and they are very much like us. I was out there on the other Sunday at the relevant meeting,

And it might well have been a meeting at Kurrajong Heights or at Colo Heights or Wisemans Ferry or wherever. They're just like us.

It's also very important from this Council's point of view to be supporting our fellow councils and

Expressing solidarity with their thoughts and their opinions and their desires to

Provide clean, decent environments which will support sustainable lifestyles into the future. And

I think that's the desire of this Council and our local community. So I thank my fellow councillors who care to support this and do crave the Mayor's dab hand at letter writing.

Thank you, Councillor Ross. I'll put the motion. It's been moved by Councillor Ross and seconded by Councillor Wheeler. All those in favour say aye. Those against? Declare it carried.

We now move to items on block. Would someone like to move that we accept the items on block? Councillor Zamprogno, seconded by Councillor Conolly. All those in favour say aye. Those against? Declare it carried. We now move to—

Planning decisions. I might just wait for the crowd to leave. I was waiting for the

Next notice of motion. I realise there's no discussion, so we're going back to...

You're next.

Thanks.

So we move to item 35, and Director of Planning, Ms Perrin, is going to introduce that item to us.

Thank you, Mr Mayor.

Essentially, Council's in receipt of a development application for a new dwelling and a water tank within the 85 London Place growth wold. The reason why this matter is before you is because essentially the area that they're looking to develop has a building envelope restriction, so they're seeking application to mend the size of that restriction, which is a positive covenant which is existing, to ensure protection of existing vegetation. So essentially the report is saying if we amended that building envelope, it allows all of the structures to be included within the building envelope, but it will result in the loss of one tree. The tree, as you can see by the pictures behind it, there's only a number of other trees. It's not necessarily going to be reducing the vegetation by a significant amount.

Thank you. Would anyone care to move anything on this?

Councillor Ross. Yes

Some questions. Thank you. I noticed that in the spatial material provided, that there was a couple of apparent sheds or something or other that appeared upper left of the dam in the December 18

Pictorial. I gather there's not been a DA for that.

General Manager? Ms Perrin

I don't have the history of the DAs around the site because it wasn't relevant to... How much is query that

Then the other

Inquiry would be : would it be an order for Council to, if in agreement to this removal, to seek its replacement either in equal number or a greater number of plantings by the proponent of new trees, please, Director?

Yes, we can consider that as part of a condition.

I would, if that could find favour in the Chamber, be very appreciative of that. Thank you.

Does anyone want to move anything on this? Nobody moving this? Nobody moving anything? Could I... Following from the comment that I made. Is this another question?

Oh, no,

No, no ,

No. The potential for additional trees, does

That need to be— Well, you could build it into the motion if you would like to move it.

Oh, okay. Well

So you could move the motion with an extra condition that the tree be replaced. Oh,

Thank you, Mayor. Your guidance and direction is most appreciated.

Thank you. Councillor Ross is moving that. Do we have a seconder? Second that. Councillor Conolly. Councillor Ross, do you wish to speak to the motion?

Only to the extent, sir, that we've been expressing our concern as a council in regard to global warming and its attendant difficulties, and there always seems to be a problem of tree loss rather than tree gain. And if we can put something on the positive side of the ledger, I'm all in favour of it, and I hope it could find support from the applicant, please.

Thank you. Any further speakers? Councillor Garrow.

Just a question. Do we, in the application, do we have a landscape plan in there so we could possibly Yes, that would be a part of the development application, yeah. I'm just trying to find it, that's all.

Any further questions or speakers? Do you wish to speak again? If there aren't any, and no one has spoken against the motion, so there's no right of reply unless you have any last-minute thing you want to add, Councillor Ross? No. I'll put the motion. It's been moved by Councillor Ross, seconded by Councillor Connelly. All those in favour say aye

Yeah, I got ready for that before. It's a planning matter. You have to use your buttons. I'll reset the buttons. On the count of three, please vote by using your buttons. One, two, three.

Look at that.

The motion is carried, ten votes to one. Those in favour are Councillor Ross, Councillor Garrow, Councillor Reynolds, Councillor Wheeler, Councillor Lyons-Buckett, Councillor Kotlash, Councillor Zamprogno, Councillor Connelly, Councillor Richards, Councillor Calvert. Those against are Councillor Rasmussen, and Councillor Tree is absent. Sorry, I built up to that too.

Move the recommendation.

Thank you, Mr Mayor. This report talks about event sponsorship round two applications for the financial and in-kind assistance for events in the Hawkesbury. There's been ten applications received under round two for a range of events. The event applications have been assessed under the events strategy, which includes using the eligibility criteria and the assessment criteria matrix. Eight of the ten events were eligible to receive funding when assessed against the criteria and scored greater than 40 on the criteria, and they achieved the key outcomes of building community partnerships by involving community groups, supporting town centres as local hubs, they used riverside locations, and they involved the Hawkesbury's cultural or heritage sites, and they had universal appeal.

The event strategy budget for round two was just over 31,000, which has been allocated to provide financial and in-kind assistance for eight events. The event sponsorship program has now run for the past year, and moving forward, there will be modifications made to the timing of the sponsorship to align with the 2019-20 budget process.

Thank you. Someone like to move the motion? Councillor Rasmussen, seconded by Councillor Garrow. Councillor Rasmussen, you wish to speak?

Thank you, Mr Mayor. Mr Mayor, I think each of these projects that have been put up by the community I think are worthy of support. And have been given strong support. I note that one of them got about half of what they asked for, but at the end of the day, they were certainly supported. Oh, sorry, I'm referring there to the Koala Fest, I think it was. But anyway, and that was held last year, and that was certainly very, very popular in the Hawkesbury and certainly in the Kurrajong village community area. And I'm pleased to see that being continued on this year, and so is the Kurrajong A Buzz. And, yeah

So Mr Mayor, the only issue I would perhaps raise here is that I note there was an application from the Windsor Polo Club to stage a significant event in the Hawkesbury. And I have over many years now supported the polo playing in that area, given that there are a lot of interest in polo and given that they do, or have in the past, brought significant events to the Hawkesbury as a tourism promotion for the Hawkesbury. It just seemed to me perhaps that we could have at least given that group a little bit of a help to indicate our support for these sorts of events in the future. But it is what it is, but I do support the overall allocation, and I think the community groups that have... Put in an application have done really well, I think, and many of them, several of them, particularly in the Kurrajong community area, are continuing on doing good work and continuing on with very popular events for our local community.

Thank you. Councillor Garrow, you wish to speak?

Yes, I just wanted to make reference to the applicant of the ski racing New South Wales and Council's other assistance in the provision of waste bins. Can we please ensure adequate recycling bins are located at that space? I've attended these events on numerous occasions and there has been very limited, if any, recycling facilities, and there's quite a large quantity of recyclable product that goes through those events. Thank you.

Thank you, Councillor Wheeler.

Thanks, Mr Mayor. A couple of questions, if I may. In the past, I think we've seen the score sheets for each. If we could be given those in future, it makes it much easier for us to see where this fits in and where the discussion and the recommendation comes from, and it just gives us a bigger picture. I'm also wondering

Who fills those in? Do the staff fill those questionnaires in, or does the applicant fill it in and then is checked by the staff?

Question, Mr.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Yes, when a group makes an application online, we have all the information available and we recommend that they read through the strategy and review the assessment matrix criteria that's there. But this, and their submission is meant to address those criteria, if they'd like to have an improved submission, I guess. But the staff makes the assessment against the criteria from their submission, and if we require clarification on some issues that they may not have addressed, then we contact them.

Thank you.

So my only other question is, given that one of the goals of this program is to get these events so that they, where possible, eventually become self-funding if they're recurrent events, I'm curious as to why we are continuing to fund Ski Racing New South Wales, and have been doing so for 14 years. I know that they bring a lot of people to the town, but the reports that I receive are that they don't necessarily spend a lot of that money in the town. They do use accommodation, but they tend to come with their own food, their own eskies, and set up ready to go, and then they leave their rubbish and go again. Now I'm happy to be proven wrong on that score, but I'm wondering why we are funding such a big race to the tune of $5,000, 14 years on.

That doesn't seem sustainable under our current aims, and it's a big lump of money out of the pot when Windsor Polo Club, and I think it's worth noting that Windsor Polo Club is not a high-end polo club. This is a community-run, this is owned by community members as shareholders. Doesn't get any money. I think that's a shame that we're funding one continuously and one not at all.

Thank you.

Further speakers?

Councillor Ross, would you like to exercise your right of— Rasmussen, sorry, would you like to exercise your right of reply?

Not necessary, Mr Mayor, thank you.

I'll put the motion then. All those in favour say aye. Those against? Declare it carried.

Moved to item 37, which is the model code of conduct, and Mr. Mifsud is going to introduce this topic.

Thanks, Mr. Mayor. Council adopted its current code of conduct on the 25th of July 2017 and its current associated procedures on the 5th of February 2013. In 2016, the Office of Local Government initiated a review of the model code of conduct for local councils and the associated procedures. On December 14, 2018, the new model code of conduct for local councils in New South Wales and the associated procedures were prescribed by Government Gazette. All councils, including Hawkesbury Council, are required to adopt a new code of conduct and procedures based on the model by the 14th of June 2019. A new Hawkesbury Council code of conduct and procedures based on the model code have been developed to incorporate all the provisions of the model code, with some additional provisions included in regard to the use of social media.

The new model code and procedures are now provided to Council for adoption.

Councillor Kotlash.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I'd like to move the item with some changes to the introduction of the code of conduct, if I may. I sent—oh, God, it's a bit hard to read, isn't it?

Is there any way we can make that a bit larger? Thanks. Excellent. The changes that I've made— You just explain the changes, please, because we haven't got a seconder yet.

Yeah

The changes are... About the reference to the model code of conduct and the code of conduct, I thought that

Was a bit confusing, so there's some changes to eliminate that confusion. There's some changes

To

What constitutes council officials, and it also has some changes about what happens if people don't comply with the code.

Anyone like to second that? Deputy Mayor. I'd

Like to know what the changes to council officials are.

Thank you, Mr Mayor.

The introduction in the business papers refers to council officials, and in it, it refers to volunteers as being additional to council officials. But in Part 2, in the definitions, the definition of a council official includes volunteers. So there's no change to the meaning of the code of conduct. It's just about the reference to what that means. And so there was a bit of confusion about that. But that's—I've just tried to make it clearer for people to know exactly what this code of conduct, who it covers. Do

We have a seconder ?

I'll second it, Mr Mayor, but I did have another thing I wanted to ask. But you keep going and I'll ask.

Okay, seconded by the Deputy Mayor, Councillor Kotlash. You wish to speak to your motion, please? Well

I'll just quickly go through the changes because I appreciate probably you haven't had time to read it . I think the original code said that it referred to the model code of conduct. The model code of conduct is what our code of conduct is based on, and there was a— so it sort of, it makes that confusion less . And as I said before, the definition of council officials is clearer . Really , that's about the extent of it. And it's just— there was reference to what happens if a counciler doesn't comply and what happens if a member of staff doesn't comply, and really it left off all of those other people that it mentions, like members of council committees, etc. So I've just changed that to include failure by a member of staff or council officials to comply with the Hawkesbury Council's code of conduct may give rise to disciplinary action.

So it's just making the introduction a little bit tighter, I suppose. So that's it, really. There's no change to the meaning or any other

Procedures in provisions in the code.

General tidying up.

Thank you. Yes exactly. Any further speakers? Deputy Mayor.

Thank you,

Mr Mayor. I was just going to raise, and it may be just an ordinary course of action anyway, but that we obviously, I know we've had a briefing on this, but once it's in, will we have an updated instruction on the actual application of the code of conduct, or do we need to specify that? That's a question for

Mr Mifsud. Thanks, Mr Mayor. There will be some training organised for councillors once the Code of Conduct is adopted.

Thank you, Mr Mifsud. But the second point was the provisions with regard where the new procedures relate to members of the public and their requirement to not publicly disclose that a Code of Conduct's been lodged. I'm just wondering how we will be imparting that to the public, but I assume it's not necessary to specify that, but I'm just raising it on the off chance because that will be something new to the public, and I know they'll be told about it if they lodge a Code of Conduct. But I'm just aware that people often say they haven't heard about something or whatever, so I'm just seeking what mechanism may be moved for that.

Mr Mifsud. Thanks, Mr Mayor. That's correct. So obviously, if there's Code of Conducts that come in, we'll be able to advise the member of public that may have lodged that. However, we may be able to, once the Code of Conduct's adopted, we may be able to do some sort of media release or something like that that may be able to put that sort of information out.

Thank you. No need to say anything else. Thank you.

Any further speakers?

Councillor Wheeler

Thanks, Mr Mayor. I think it might be worth making a matter of public record that councillors are held to very strict limits on gifts and benefits of token value, and I know it's constantly a pain when councillors go to events and things and are offered token gifts to thank them. And I note here that we have, I know there was a very small figure proposed early in the piece of five dollars, which negates the pen and cup I got from Wilberforce Public School at the end of last year. And I see here that this is a much more sensible value of $50, but it is $50 over a 12-month period. So all those delightful Facebook trolls who've been suggesting that we take bribes, take note. Fifty bucks doesn't get you very far.

And I do also want to note the massive disparity between local government officials and our federal and state counterparts. So you can be a federal MP earning in excess of $150,000 and receive a $200 gift, and you can be a state MP and receive a $500 gift, but we're the ones who are corrupt and can't make any decisions. Just a couple of—I would like a definition of what a close associate of a property developer is, because I don't think that's very clear. And I'm wondering, on page 32, section D, so page 32 of the business paper, not of the code of conduct, section D , the staff have done a nice comparison of the social media clauses, which show the proposed version and the version that we're adopting.

And I just wonder what happened to the initial part of D, which was, has the capacity to damage council's reputation. So we seem to have kept the second bit but not the first, and I'm wondering if we can get some clarification of why we've done that, i.e. I accept that it's extremely subjective and quite restrictive when it comes to councillors being able to state how they feel about a decision of council, and certainly could— Certainly could infringe on free speech if used, or be vexatious if used inappropriately. So, but I'd just quite like some comment on why we've settled on the second half of D and not the first.

Mr Mifsud, do you have an answer to...? In

The

Business paper. Mr Wearne has an answer to that

Through you, Mr Mayor, the reason why we left out that first part of D was because it was not included in the final — not the final — the September 2018 version of the Code of Conduct. So we took out that version, didn't have in A, B and the first half of D from the consultation draft. So we've just followed the version from the Office of Local Government from September 2018.

Councillor Wheeler, you had a question before that, I think, didn't you? I don't know whether we answered that one.

Yes, the close associate of a property developer.

Okay. Mr Mifsud, Mr Wearne

Thanks, Mr Mayor. There's no definition, as far as I know, in there of what that is, so there would have to be a judgment call on that if that arose

Councillor Wheeler, you're finished? Any further speakers? Councillor Rasmussen.

Thank you, Mr Mayor. There's a question in relation to the use of social media, and I referred also to page 32, as the previous speaker has done.

I'm just wondering how we will , or how Council will go about enforcing or be alerted to these if there are breaches of this particular part of the code. Now obviously there may well be residents who have been offended by, will bring it to Council's notice, but if there aren't, how will we police this, or are we just reliant on somebody dobbing the system in? I also refer here to what is offensive, humiliating, threatening or intimidating to other Council officials

Does a councillor qualify under Council officials ? And if that is the case, then how would the situation that we had a few months ago, where a councillor placed on a Facebook page another councillor who apparently seemed to be listening very carefully with his eyes shut, whether that would be caught under this particular clause or not, and how that would be adjudicated?

A few questions in there, I think .

Mr. Yes, sorry, I'll try to answer all them. In regard to the first point, to be a code of conduct complaint, we wouldn't be able to scan or sort of trawl through social media, so we would need a formal—we'd need a formal complaint in writing that someone's breached a code of conduct, or we couldn't action that. In regards to— I guess that sort of answers the third point that you had there in regards to someone taking an unauthorised picture of a councillor. Yes , a code of conduct complaint would not, I guess, would not be relevant to the person that took that photo if they were an individual not linked with council, but there would be, in that regard, in that circumstance, it'd be recourse under the code of meeting practice where they could be excluded from the meeting .

Your second point in there was about if a councillor is a council official, and that's correct. Under the definition in the code of conduct, a councillor is a council official.

Thank

You, Mr Mayor .

Thank you. Any further speakers

No. Councillor Kotlash, do you wish to exercise a right of reply?

No, that's not necessary. Thank you, Mr Mayor. Okay

I'll put the motion moved by Councillor Kotlash, seconded by the Deputy Mayor. All those in favour say aye. Those against? Declare it carried.

We move to item 40, which is about our council resolution summary. Would someone like to move something? Councilor Connelly is moving that. Councillor Rasmussen is seconding it. Councillor Connelly, do you wish to speak to it? Would anyone like to speak on the matter?

Yes, please, Mr. Mayor.

Deputy Mayor.

Just reading through these, I've just got something. I think it may have been brought up before too, and it's just really questioning the status of complete. For example, item 188. It's just something I picked up, marked quite a few, but where we have a motion that we're going to write to somebody and to send letters off, and the letters are sent, I would think completion would include listing whether we got a response to those letters or not before we say it's complete. Because, I mean, we can send them off, and if we don't know whether they're ever received or responded to. And likewise, for example, the city deal is another example. I thought, well, it's not really complete until we actually get some money or something starts going , even though we've endorsed certain parts of it and so on as a council.

I'm just wondering if there's another word between , I suppose, in progress is the other word, but I understand that it's a literal status connected to whether an exact action was taken. But I would think that for us to be able to see whether we've actually completed what the intent was of the notice of motion or the resolution, we would need to know whether we have a response or something to these things.

General

Manager. So as councillors are aware, this is sort of a work in progress, this reporting. We're in the process of developing a database, which will allow councillors to get a more comprehensive update of all council resolutions. So you'll see letters sent, received, and things like that. The other thing we are looking at is different terminology. So as the Deputy Mayor has suggested, maybe rather than complete, it's in progress or actioned or something like that. So they're the things that we're looking at in terms of the database and the functionality of the reporting. So I think as we move forward, we'll provide a more useful document.

Thank you.

Further speakers?

Councillor Connelly, do you wish to exercise the right of reply? I'll put the motion. All those in favour say aye. Those against, declare it carried.

We move to item 41, which is the Code of Meeting Practice, and Mr Mifsud is going to introduce this one.

Thanks, Mr Mayor. Council adopted its current Code of Meeting Practice on 31 October 2017. In 2016, the Office of Local Government commenced the development of a model code of meeting practice for all local councils in New South Wales. On 14 December 2018, the model code of meeting practice was prescribed by Government Gazette, and all councils, including Hawkesbury, are required to adopt a new code of meeting practice based on that model by 14 June 2019. A new Hawkesbury Council Code of Meeting Practice, based on that model code, has been developed to include all the mandatory provisions of the model, with a number of optional provisions being included in regard to notices of motion and mayoral minutes, allocation and expenditure, public address format and councillor briefing sessions. The new draft Council Code of Meeting Practice is now recommended to be placed on public exhibition.

Thank you, Mr Mifsud. Deputy Mayor, you'd like to move something?

I'd like to move that this code be adopted with a potential change to section 11.

Yes, please. If

I may. Section 11.4 to 11.9 relate to voting at council meetings. I was going to suggest that we include a provision, maybe eliminate from sections 11.5 to 11.9, that we include a section something along the lines that the vote is recorded on all items of council. I don't know if you need to specify the method; it could be hand vote or electronic vote, whatever, but just that all items have a recorded vote against it.

Could I ask Mr Mifsud if he... Comment on that, Mr Wern?

Through you, Mr Mayor, there are provisions, optional provisions in the model code for Council to incorporate into this draft code that do cover that basis, yep. So we can just, basically, we'll be taking out the references to voting only on planning documents, and we'll be inserting the OLG's recommended wording for voting on everything.

Thank you, that would be adequate.

You'd like to move that? Yes, please. Do we have a seconder? Councillor Rasmussen. Deputy Mayor, do you wish to speak any further? No thank you.

Any further speakers? Councillor Conolly. Just a question, Mr Mayor. Would it be feasible, I note that we're going to require 14 days' notice for written questions, and there'll be no questions in the meetings. Given that that's quite a lengthy period, I don't know if it would be unworkable, but I was thinking, is it possible to bring that down to seven days' notice, and with the understanding that if an answer can't be provided, obviously because the business paper has to go to print a couple of days after that, that just the question is printed with an answer in the following meeting?

Mr Mifsud?

Thanks, Mr Mayor. Yeah, that is possible. The reason that we've said 14 days would enable staff, obviously, to put together a written response in the business paper for that to happen. And it's also, I guess, along the current lines in that the questions that are asked at a Council meeting now effectively are given 14 days' notice for Council staff to answer it for the following meeting.

So

It's sort of like to— What we've tried to do is try to replace that, and it gives us enough time to provide an answer in the business paper, which is obviously what would be required.

Councillor Wheeler.

Thanks, Mr Mayor. I was hoping that there was some mechanism in this document for us to record attendance at briefings as well as council meetings, but I can't see how to achieve that given the current state of the document. I know I did ask for it to go into the annual report, but it hasn't ever happened. I want to thank the staff for their work on this. This has been a really big job, and I think they've worked very hard and very successfully to maintain the spirit of council's existing document and put it into this other document. It's always difficult to marry two things together and maintain the status quo when you're told that you have to do something a different way. And I think any of us who've spent lots of time chatting to other councillors are often really surprised at how different the same business and the same code is used in very different ways to do the same thing.

And I'm always fascinated. Our code is actually quite loose compared to many councils. We're offered more chances to speak in a far less restrictive format, and so is the public, given the recommendations of the draft code. And so I think it's excellent work from the staff who have managed to maintain that ability.

I think it's a shame that that question's on notice, but I think it will be easier on the staff. We won't have our evening ramblings, and so we'll have to give it to them to give them something sensible in writing. That's got to be a win for them anyway, not so for us if we're feeling disorganised. It will also ensure transparency, I think, but I wonder what will happen to questions on questions under this mechanism. I can't quite work out how we will address those, whether it will be a follow-up question where you just put in a new question and it's linked to the other question is lost. I'm not sure.

Is that a question?

Mr. Mifsud. Thanks, Mr. Mayor. So if we're talking about a question being put in writing to staff and then a response provided at the next council meeting, then there's the ability for councillors to ask questions on that subject matter at that meeting.

Of course, because it's been dealt with in the agenda of the meeting. Thank you.

I also think that there's room already in notices of motion to deal with financial considerations, and perhaps the staff should just be stricter on us when we blithely ignore or delete that section of the notice of motion. But it shouldn't provide a means of preventing important or urgent work, and I think that's something that we need to be mindful of. Because in a less balanced council than this, I can see it being used as a tool to prevent councillors using their right to use a notice of motion as a mechanism for action and to further reduce council to a rubber stamp, and I think that would be a definite loss. And it's the same with the public speakers. I would hate to see the code interpreted to stop the public speaking and take us back to the pre-September 2016 days of restricting public comment on council.

So I think there is potential for abuse of that section of the code, and I want to commend the staff for navigating that territory well. It could have been very undemocratic. It could have reduced public participation. I think we have to be vigilant, but I think we have a very workable document. Thank you.

Further speakers? Councillor Richards.

Thank you, Mr Mayor. Just a confirmation moving forward once this is adopted on clause 10.22, where it says a councillor must not speak for more than five minutes. Is there going to be a way moving forward where every councillor is timed and ceased speaking at the five minute mark?

Question, Mr Mifsud? General Manager. I

Was given this question to answer.

Okay.

Look, that's what it says, and if we want to enforce it, we will enforce it. Up until now, it's sort of been in the spirit, but sometimes that spirit has been tested. So I'm looking for guidance from the council. We can enforce it. We're capable of doing that. Is that what people want us to do?

Well, that's there. It's in writing. That's what we're adopting.

It can be enforced, and it's part of—

I think it should be enforced. I think there's an abuse of time. I think we've all been guilty of it, but I think we all should just pull into line and have a concise and proper meeting that gets our business done properly and on time.

Thank you. Well, we are adopting it, so we don't actually need to move anything on that.

Any further speakers?

No. Deputy Mayor, do you want right of reply?

Not necessary, thanks.

I'll put the motion. All those in favour say aye. Those against, declared carried.

We move to notice of motion three, item 45. Councillor Ross, you moving that? Do we have a seconder?

Do we have a seconder? Councillor Rasmussen, thank you. Councillor Ross, would you like to—please?

Thank you, Mayor. I've proposed this notice of motion as a result of a couple of things. One was the management report from the Auditor General regarding

Their activity up to June 30 last year. They made specific mention, particularly in regard to fair value,

And suggested, I think it's in part three of their report,

That they were looking to see a more, if you like, timely evaluation of fair value of all of Council's assets. And the subsequent comment which they made also indicated that they were, if you like, putting a little bit more pressure on in that regard.

And with the end of the financial year coming up, I felt it would be appropriate at this time to have this notice of motion in place. So that it would be reasonable for our staff to go ahead and make the appropriate arrangements in terms of getting these fair value measurements conducted, and hopefully as an adjunct to that to also implement this condition-based depreciation element. And that has been fairly strongly drawn to my attention by our previous council auditor, Mr. Banacevic, who is now a consultant, who is strongly in favour of a condition-based depreciation assessment being allied to

Fair value measurement , for the reasons that we

Are undergoing times of quite significant technological change. I would add to that climate change in terms of a lot of the council assets are actually fixed installations in the landscape, and with experiencing higher temperatures and

Then large quantities of rain and then drying off and going through these various cycles, it appears as if the landscape is Causing

Some

Adverse effects on council's assets, I've noticed it even particularly personally in regard to the roadway outside on George Street, which has become quite crazed and so on over the last 12 or 18 months. And a lot of the local area is

Containing a clay-based soil type, which of course swells with the addition of water and then contracts rather markedly with continued periods of dry, and that of course can result in movement in the soil and can shift all sorts of infrastructure, whether it be roadway, kerb and guttering, pipelines, whatever, and even break joints and so on. So that's another aspect to it, unfortunately. And the overall sentiment, I think we have to understand of the government being that this regime of integrated planning and reporting

Is an absolute requirement so far as the government is concerned to endeavour to make sure that councils are being mindful of their obligations to their communities and also that councils are

Fully cognisant of the possible effects maybe of intergenerational impost if accounting is not treated in a fairly disciplined fashion, shall we say, more disciplined than previously. It's almost an added imposition, I'm afraid, on Council, and I think we need to recognise that. And that's the reason that I've suggested bringing this forward. Thank you

Thank you, Councillor Ross. Any further speakers?

Councillor Conolly. Thanks

Mr Mayor. I understand that Council has the ultimate obligation to make sure that our financial statements present a true and fair view of the financial state of the Council. But I would have thought that this is something that the Audit Committee should be looking at and making recommendations to Council on. And I also would have expected that if this is an issue, that there would have been some qualification of our audit report that mentioned this. I know there was some issues, but I don't think this is one that was highlighted. My inclination would be, because obviously this is substantial work we're asking the staff to do, and normally this sort of thing would come from the staff to us, but we're saying they've missed it and we want them to go ahead and do it and report back to us on what's happening.

I would be inclined to first ask for the Audit Committee's advice on whether this is required, have the Audit Committee come back to Council with a recommendation, give everybody time to get up to speed on what's required, and perhaps some staff comment, and then we can make a decision on whether we want to go down this track.

Councillor Ross, are you interested in that proposition?

Not really . As the Auditor

General report to management indicated that management, as I understood it, had concurred with the sentiments of the audit , if you like, finding, and that this would be a means by which it would enable our staff to facilitate matters in that regard. The

Degree of work would be to, I think, liaise with the appointed agent of the Auditor General to establish the terms of, if you like,

Reference to be applied in seeking these fair value judgements to be made, presumably by external or external parties.

So your answer is no, Councillor Ross?

That is correct.

Yep. Councillor Kotlash.

Thank you, Mr Mayor. A question, if I can start off with.

I note that our asset management policy was adopted in November of 2017. Do any of the issues that Councillor Ross has raised in his notice of motion, were any of those issues addressed in this policy review?

I believe general manager is going to ask Ms Galia to answer that.

Thanks, Mr Mayor. The asset management policy adopted by Council in November 2017 looks at asset management principles. The principles that we're talking about in this notice of motion are more accounting practice principles. So they're two different things. Thanks, Mr Mayor.

Councillor Kotlash, you finished?

So, no, I'm just trying to get my head around this because I must confess to not being across the issues of fair value and conditioned-based stuff. But it says, the notice of motion says that council staff prepare a brief report in respect of council's current asset management policies and procedures. So if these things don't have any bearing on our asset management policy, that might need to be amended. I think I agree with Councillor Connelly that I think we need further advice from the audit committee. If the audit committee reviews accounting

Procedures and—

Take that as a question.

Policies. Thank you.

Thanks, Mr Mayor. We can certainly prepare a report to the audit committee about this matter. Thanks, Ms. Samuel. Councillor Conolly.

Thanks,

Mr. Mayor. Just having reread the motion, maybe a pertinent question would be through you, because this motion doesn't actually direct staff to adopt these approaches, just asking them if these approaches are going to be adopted. Could we have a really brief overview now as to whether the broad intention is to adopt all of these principles in this coming year?

That's a question, Mr. Conolly.

We were going to respond to this question by preparing a brief report outlining whether our current asset management policies and procedures comply with these principles or otherwise, and if they don't, why, or if they do, how. So it was going to be more like a table that we were just going to put together in relation to these points.

No further questions. Councillor Richards.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. My concern with all of this was voting on this tonight without, as Councillor Kotlash has stated, understanding every single aspect of the motion and what I'm voting on and what I'm committing the staff to essentially do. So if all, as the general manager has said, is if this motion is passed tonight, it comes back to Council as a table, and it's not committing the staff to doing anything more than that, and that's not going to weigh a heavy burden on their time, is that—you don't think it will? It's not

Going to— Mr. Conolly. No, we can accommodate that.

You can accommodate that. Okay. And then I guess as a Council we'll then make a decision, because I think that this is very, very broad. So thank you.

Councillor Rasmussen, you had your light on.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Mr. Mayor, Councillor Richards just covered my point, because I don't think there's a big impost here, because staff would probably do that anyway as a matter of course.

Councillor Wheeler. Thanks , Mr. Mayor. I'm happy to support this. I take Councillor Connolly's point, and perhaps the report could also go to the Audit Committee, and then we could get, I think it might be a bit of a chicken and an egg situation. If we do both, then hopefully we'll get the best of both worlds.

So you're suggesting a change that says something about the report being prepared and given to Council and to the Audit Committee.

Yes, please.

Councillor Ross, you happy with that change?

Yes, that's fine.

Right. Any further speakers? Councillor Ross, would you like to exercise your right of reply?

No, I don't think it's necessary. Not necessary

I'll put the motion. All those in favour say aye. Those against? Declare it carried.

We move now to questions on questions. Anyone got any? Deputy Mayor.

Thank you, Mr Mayor. Just a clarification on question 4 on page 72. I believe it's going to be followed up on, but the request on the update of the work the RMS is doing on the flood evacuation routes actually was a request regarding the roadwork upgrade program, not the evacuation signage. So apparently there's bits where the roads still get cut and so on, and it was to actually upgrade the physical road. So just clarifying that. Thank you.

General Manager. Yes, the Deputy Mayor spoke to me about that, Mr Mayor, and I was going to pass those details on to the Director, and I haven't had a chance to do that, so we can update that at the next meeting.

Councillor Wheeler.

Thanks, Mr Mayor. Regarding question 6 and signage at wildlife signage at Bligh Park, it would be helpful, particularly when we move to a more formal format for these questions, if we were to be given some sort of ETA on signage. So I note that we're still waiting on signs at the river and swimming spots as a result of an urgency motion, and the swimming season is nearly over. So if we're going to do the same with all of our signage, I'm starting to wonder why I ask. I don't understand question 8. I don't understand why it's sufficient to say that there's a legal, that a DA is in as a reason that illegal works haven't been dealt with. Surely the works are still illegal regardless of whether there is a DA in or not.

The fence in question is not a fence that will be a lasting piece of infrastructure on that property, so I can't see that a DA is going to fix it. And question 18 regarding the water factory at Pitt Town, we were assured at a public meeting a couple of weeks ago that a buyer had been found for the business involved, and I'm wondering if Council has had any further information to that effect.

Thanks, Councillor. Will, you started with question six. General Manager, do we have a

Comment

On that

About the signs? Mr Mayor, we have provided an answer on this, and we did speak to police and to Life Saving New South Wales. The approach is to do an education program. The resolution was in multiple languages and signs in the middle of the river, and it was a very complicated resolution. And on discussion with those other stakeholders that are more involved in this matter, the decision was made to work on the education program, and I believe that was the information that was previously conveyed. Question eight.

That defence. Yes, generally in terms of any compliance enforcement action, an option is obviously we can take different action, but once a DA is in train, if they do an application trying to address an issue, whether it's building certificate or development application, then we stop enforcement action until that DA or application has been resolved. If it's refused , then we then proceed with enforcement action.

General

Manager, has got something to add?

Mr Mayor, just one other thing. The courts have actually regularly formed the view that if there's an application on foot, they won't pursue legal action. They want the application determined on its merits, and then it's appropriate to take legal action. So while there's a live application in front of Council, it is difficult for staff to act on this.

Question 18 about Pitt Town sewerage.

We're aware that there was a statement made, but the information that's been provided in relation to question 18 is the most up-to-date written information that we have as a Council.

Thank you. Any further questions on questions? Councillor Ross.

Could I refer staff back to, I think it was November 18, a question asked by Councillor Wheeler in regard to acid sulphate soils associated with the Windsor Bridge project, from memory, to which I don't believe there's been an answer provided. This will have to go on notice. Yes , it will. I do appreciate it . When we ask questions for next meeting, you can ask it then.

Okay.

It's a question on a question. Well, we're only supposed to be looking at the questions from the last meeting. Oh, I see. The ones that are listed here. Okay. Any other questions on questions? Yes, I have a number, thank you. Question 15, and I guess these will all be taken on notice. What action has been taken in regard to sports lighting standards compliance since September 2018 consultant's audit report came into Council's possession? Did the consultant's report measure lux units on the playing areas? Did lux units as measured on the playing surfaces exceed training ground permissibility levels and match competition levels with already installed lighting infrastructure? Is the Director able to advise of a timeline by which time the grant is required to be implemented, please?

Thank you, Mr Conroy. You got more, Councillor Ross? I have. On that same question? No, further question. How about we just do that one first, get about four bits to it. Mr Conroy? Is it not possible that I just ask that these be put on notice, shall we say? They relate to last meeting, but I would not expect to receive an automatic response. Okay. In all fairness, just— Well, I'll ask the General Manager to comment on whether we can do that.

We will

Take it on notice. Take it on notice, thank you. Thank you. Question 17. I seek to have a full clarification provided in regard to the refurbishment of these premises, please. As I understand it, the F18 budget plan provided for roughly $83,400 to be dedicated to that project. There's an apparent discrepancy between the September quarter budget review statement and the response given, quoted here in the business paper. And I also question the use of 7.11 or 7.1 reserve funds in this instance, please. Put that on notice too. Another one? I have a few. No, that one you just said, is that on notice? All of these will be on notice , if you would be so obliging there. Question number 20.

I'd be very pleased to receive a copy of the full program of works indicated in the tender documents. In the notification of the tender,

Could I also have details of the publication of the tender, including closing date for bids?

Could I also be supplied with an anticipated date at which Council will be able to determine the successful tenderer and specified timeline, if any, for completion of the project, please.

In regard to question number 21 now, if I may,

The question does not appear to directly answer the , I gather rather obtuse, manner in which I asked it. Could I just draw to staff attention that I had already corresponded in regard to certain elements within the planned play space and made some observations in that regard which I felt were

Possibly of interest in staff pursuing, which were outside of the elements of

The shade and fencing.

Now I'm also— Somewhat concerned at the indication in regard to the funding.

I'm just wondering if it would be possible to be supplied with the information as to what program of the Office of Open Space and Parklands was relevant to this grant, and when did Council submit its application in this regard, please, because I've not been able to locate such a program.

I think that's all on those matters, sir. Thank you, Councillor Ross. Any further questions on questions?

No. General Manager has something to add about

Questions. Thank you, Mr Mayor. In relation to question two, trees in Bonavista Park, the Director Infrastructure Services circulated some additional information this afternoon, namely that advice from Council's arborist indicates that at least some of the trees and others throughout the surrounding areas are infected by a disease known as Cypress canker, for which there is no successful treatment. The advice also noted that drought conditions stress the trees and reduce the trees' resistance to this disease. Thank you, Mr Mayor.

No more questions on questions. We'll move to questions for the next meeting. Councillor Ross, do you have any? Yes, please. Thank you, Mayor. I've had a report that the property, and this may run across the matter earlier, unfortunately. The property, which is the subject of a DA at the moment, DA 0508/18, I think it is, in regard to a sand mining proposal on Freemans Reach Road. I've had a report that there's been some movement of soil in the vicinity of the river . I would certainly say within the riparian zone, and I'd just like to draw that to Council's attention. And also the fact that I think it was the Department of Industry, Fisheries branch or whomever, had indicated their opposition to the particular DA, and that this particular activity alleged may be infringing on that area and be relevant to that government instrumentality's concerns.

So I'd like to draw that to staff, and if they feel warranted, to process it. Thank you. Thank you, Councillor Rasmussen. Thank you

Thank you, Mr Mayor. Some time ago I asked, there was a notice of motion about the Yarramundi Lane. And in Auslane and Crowleys, thank you. And I'm just wondering whether we've had any responses at all from anybody about what assistance they can do provide us with to keep that road safe and secure for the local residents to travel on.

Councillor Garrow.

There's a flock of feral goats frequently seen on the McGraths Hill flat. It's come to my attention that they are eating and stripping all of the trees now, both old and new, and these need to be dealt with in an urgent matter. Happy to sort them out. Also, is overnight camping with caravans and camper vans allowed in our council parks and car parks? If not, can we please have the appropriate signage erected as a matter of urgency?

Also , there's Woolworths trucks again using George Street between Baker and Bridge Streets. It's my understanding that this pathway is not to be used as part of their development approval. Can Council please confirm this and if so, remind Woolworths of their breach of conditions. Also, can we please, I wanted to note that Council recognises the PFAS contamination in and around the Richmond RAAF base is a significant issue for our local community. Therefore... I would ask that Council staff please advise if it's going to be possible for Council to write to both the EPA and the Australian Department of Defence requesting that, one, a follow-up public forum regarding PFAS contamination for the community be held; two, the establishment of a single point of contact within the PFAS investigation team for our residents; three, additional soil testing in the Hawkesbury to define the edge of the affected area; four , all Hawkesbury City Council properties within the affected area to be tested at the expense of the EPA; five, clear and factual plain English information to be disseminated to all Hawkesbury residents at the expense of the Australian Department of Defence;

six, voluntary blood testing for residents found to have increased exposure at the expense of the Australian Department of Defence; seven, soil testing for businesses and residents who use affected river and creek water for their irrigation; and eight, consideration of the needs and circumstances of all businesses and residents who either own or use affected land for their livelihood.

Thank you. Councillor Reynolds.

Yeah, thanks, Mr Mayor. I might cross over a bit there with Councillor Garrow. Questions from the community were: has animal feed grown and sold by Council been tested for PFAS? Has water used to irrigate Council crops been tested for PFAS? Has Council's recycled water been tested for PFAS? A different question. Regarding the pathway contractors used by Councils, they've been seen cutting tree roots in George Street and elsewhere. And can we have an answer regarding this? Because obviously, while it may solve problems with lumps in the footpath, it's not going to do any trees any good. So an answer on that would be appreciated. Thanks.

Councillor Wheeler.

I'm wondering if the previously mentioned Cypress canker has any likely disease control implications for green waste at Council's waste management facility

Deputy Mayor. Thanks. I've got a question from a resident to the possibility of putting dual-purpose shading at Richmond Pool, being shade shelters with solar panels, possibly with rainwater collection part of it, and perhaps an item for the Sustainability Committee , putting that question in with budget time. And also for an update on the McDonald's pathway that I think was last visited in, I think it was March of 2017, and we were waiting for the discussions with the RMS.

Councillor Cotterall, Councillor Zamprogno.

Thank you, Mr Mayor. The return and earn facility has been removed from the car park of the pub at McGraths Hill, and I'm curious as to where it went, why we weren't informed, and whether in fact Council or somebody else acts as the arbiter as to whether there's sufficient uptake to justify its ongoing use in a particular location. In my estimation, it hadn't been there long enough for people to kind of fully realise its utility in that place. Locals have asked me where it went.

Councillor Conolly. Councillor Richards.

Very quickly, one, an update on my previous motion moved a couple of years ago, or at least close to, on the RSL criteria. Two, an update on my motion about the school children and where that's at about their visitation to the chamber. And three, I've had a question from a resident that does provide a conflict of interest to me, and that is the street terrace, the terrace where I live in Windsor. Someone we all know and love had a very severe car accident on that road and is still suffering the consequences, and has asked me to ask about whether we can have parking on one side of the road only, and that is quite a dangerous street for cars. Usually have to wait for each other to go past before they can do it safely. It has to be one at a time. So declaring the interest, but asking the question. Thanks.

Thank you. Before we close the meeting, the general manager would like us to stay behind for a couple of minutes after the meeting. Is there any further business? Councillor Ross, you had further business?

I'm just wondering, the question about which I raised earlier in regard to Councillor Wheeler's November 18 question, should that have You should have mentioned it just there, and if you want to mention it now, you can. Yes, I would like to do that, yes, if you don't mind. Please do. I believe Councillor Wheeler asked a question in November 18, to which there's been no answer provided as yet in regard to acid sulphate soils. Vis-a-vis the Windsor Bridge Option One project, please. Thank you, sir. Thank you. No further business. I'll close the meeting at 9.14. Thank you. Thank you, Mr.