Climate action and keeping domestic cats locked up at all times were just two of the many topics discussed at this year's Local Government NSW Annual Conference.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Gunnedah mayor Jamie Chaffey, councillor Colleen Fuller and council general manager Eric Groth attended the conference in Sydney this week to hear and vote on motions put forward by the state's local councils.
Liverpool Plains Shire Council (LPSC) deputy mayor Paul Moules also attended.
Cr Fuller said some of the more interesting motions, for her, included a motion put forward by Ryde City Council to declare a climate emergency.
Councillors voted 51/49 in favour of urging the state government to "join over 900 governments worldwide ... in declaring a climate emergency" and "make clear, effective, unambiguous steps to avert a climate crisis in NSW".
Read also:
Cr Fuller said she voted in favour of this motion.
"There were 10 times where people would be jumping up to talk in a microphone [about the issue]," Cr Fuller said.
"They didn't all get a chance, though."
Councillors also voted 51/49 in favour of locking cats up at all times as they "provide a major threat to not only birdlife but ground mammals, frogs, snakes and lizards".
Shoalhaven City Council put forward the motion to change the Companion Animals Act 1998 to make sure "domestic cats are no longer free to wander and are confined to the house of their owner and/or an appropriate meshed cat run".
Cr Fuller voted against this motion, but agreed they should be locked up at night.
"It's a no-brainer in some ways, but I couldn't justify locking a cat up permanently," she said.
Both Cr Fuller and Cr Moules told the Namoi Valley Independent the conference had been a valuable experience.
"We did a lot ... we worked on our sister-city relationships while we were away [and] we never missed an opportunity where possible," Cr Fuller said.
"The general manager, the mayor and myself, we all work very well as a team together."
Cr Moules said it was "very good and very well-run".
"There were some controversial and political motions going on; it was very emotive," he said.
"There really were a couple that were quite close [in votes] and there were a few interesting motions there."