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13 November, 2013 Page 13

Making the link


I NOTICED
more letters in the Independent recently making a link between Federal Government policy on climate change and the recent
bushfire emergencies. Govemment policies can certainly make a difference in our susceptibility to bushfires, through zoning and regulation of land management practices: but no Australian government policy is going to make any discernible difference to an

Arcane procedures
I
REFER to Cr Margaret O'Connor's recent lettel in your pages. Up to a point, she is right. and many council procedures (largely dictated by the Local Govenment Act of 1993) must seem arcane to casual observers ("I move that the motion be put" etc). However, I think that many of the points made

in the Editorial (which is for an expression of


opinion, not straight news repofting) were valid, and I certainly cannot agree that these editorial comments could in any way be construed as "crude intimidation of an elected body". The last 12 months were remarkable for the sheer number of rescission motions, as well as deferral or delaying motions, which continues to make an orderly working of council very difficult and made orderly planning nigh on impossible. In the interests of good governance these sorls of procedural motions should be used responsibly,
and that means rarely.

increasing global atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration that is driven by industrial activity
in very much larger nations. Blaming Federal Government policy on climate change for extreme weather events makes as much sense as blaming the tooth fairy. In the long term, climate change is our only hope of ending the bushfire threat once and for a1l. In a warmer world, the climate of northern Australia with its wet summcrs is cxpectcd to move southward.

Chris Fellows, Gouncillor Margaret O'Connor on her wind farm tour in Ganberra last week.
Kentucky.

Cr Herman Beyersdorf, Armidale Dumaresq Council.

Powering up
ARMIDALE Dumaresq councillor Margaret O'Connor said
she was impressed by the rising

TWentieth Sir Robert Madgwick Letture

tive

replacement

future of clean energy in Australia after a whirlwind trip to


Canberra last week. Cr O'Connor joined the New

fuel derived energy and there :re already a number of wind

for

fossil-

ground disturbance was impressive," she said.

farming projects
for development in
land.

Cr O'Connor said she


pleased

was

queued New Eng-

to hear from a farmer, standing beside one of the l0

turbines he hosted on his prop-

England Community Wind


farm Group's tour to see firsthand how wind turbines operated.

"Some of the host landholders were on the tour and very keen to see and hear wind turbines up close."

erty, describe how much the wind income had secured his
family's economic future. "He said that he used to re, ally hate the wind on his farrn. but now he knew it was helping his family stay viable for the next generation," Cr O'Connor
said.

presented by

"We looked at three different types of currently operating renewable energy, although the main focus was on wind ener-

Cr O'Connor said most of the group were initially awed by the size o[ the turbines, which were about 80 metres
high with blade spans of about
50 metres.

Professor Raimond Gaita


Professorial Fellow, University of Melbourne

gy," she said.

"That's

because wind is
cost-effec-

"However,

curently the most

quiet operation and minimal

the

The tour also looked


extremely
farn-ring.

at

Distinguished philosopher, award winning author of


and The Philosophe* Dog.

Ro mulus,

My Father

methane bio reactors and solar

m,

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Professor Caita has contributed extensively to public discussion about reconciliation, collective responsibility, the role of moral considerations

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