Gunnedah Shire Council (GSC) is spearheading a statewide push for a coal power station in NSW.
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At last week’s 2017 NSW Local Government Conference (LGC), councillors from GSC put forward a motion to gather support from other councils from around the state.
The motion passed with a margin of 197 to 126, and will now be brought to the state government by Local Government NSW (LGNSW) for consideration.
Gunnedah Shire Council mayor Jamie Chaffey said it was “very pleasing” to see the motion carried.
“It was very pleasing and a little bit surprising to be honest,” Cr Chaffey said.
“I think there is now a clear understanding that while renewable energies are going to play a big part in our future energy supply that the energy demand will only be matched with a high-energy low-emission facility.”
Cr Chaffey said the motion was not “about building a facility in Gunnedah".
“The motion actually says in NSW,” he said.
“So we are not saying where it is to be built, it’s not about us wanting more industry and that industry here, although personally I would be very open and supportive of that.
“It would be wrong for us to dictate that it be in our shire.”
Cr Murray O’Keefe put forward the motion on behalf of GSC and said the motion being carried was “very fulfilling”.
“The motion had the largest number of speakers both for and against out of every motion at the conference,” Cr O’Keefe said.
“It was very fulfilling to see nobody want to stifle the debate and everyone want to discuss it.”
Councillor O’Keefe said there is now “no doubt” about the position of local governments around NSW when it comes to high-energy low-emission power stations.
“There’s no doubt that this is the policy of local governments around NSW,” he said.
“Improving the efficiency of power is the lowest hanging fruit and our motion centered on how to improve the efficiency through a power station and the need to try and lower rising energy prices.”
LGNSW will now lobby the state government in favour of the facility, and Cr Chaffey said it was important for the state government to consider the motion.
“This is local government saying to state government, you need to be active, you need to be positive and you need to support this industry,” Cr Chaffey said.
Billy Jupp
Billy is a Senior Livestock Journalist for the Queensland Country Life based in Toowoomba. He has worked for a variety of different ACM mastheads during the past five years including the Namoi Valley Independent, Northern Daily Leader and The Land.
Billy is a Senior Livestock Journalist for the Queensland Country Life based in Toowoomba. He has worked for a variety of different ACM mastheads during the past five years including the Namoi Valley Independent, Northern Daily Leader and The Land.
