Opinion | Shepparton: act now or face climate crisis

“Every aspect of the 2025-26 budget must be considered (and I emphasise must be ) through the lens of our changing climate.

This process cannot be left until the next decade, as climate change or global warming (call it what you please) is upon us and worsening by the year.

Council has an acute social responsibility to help prepare our community for weather-driven events that will be far worse than anything we have seen before.

It was only recently that a fellow who played a key role in having the Darebin City Council declare a climate emergency (the first jurisdiction in the world to make such a declaration) visited Shepparton and warned that the catastrophic impact of weather-driven events we have already seen will double in the years ahead.

Council needs to rethink the meaning of “progress”.

It is not about being bigger, better or faster.

Rather, it is about creating a city that can withstand hotter, drier and wetter conditions, with an energy resource that is locally sourced instead of relying on a Victoria-wide network.

A special effort must be made to make Shepparton as energy-independent as possible — local energy networks, batteries and the electrification of whatever can be driven by that source.

Restraining the geographic spread of the city and intensifying living in its inner parts reduces the need to use cars.

A close look at city design is needed to ensure walking and cycling (human-powered transport) are prioritised — giving pedestrians and cyclists preference over motor vehicles (electric or otherwise).

We need to consider and develop shop-top living.

Our public transport system needs to be updated, expanded and improved, with the ultimate aim of introducing “on-demand” autonomous vehicles.

Rather than spending on grandiose projects to beautify the city, we should embrace projects that will ensure residents can continue to live here and thrive in conditions foreign to what now exists.

We need to create natural cool spaces where people can retreat when we encounter successive 50°C days (predicted by climate scientist Professor David Karoly) — days when existing power systems collapse.

Council shouldn’t be involved with events (as attractive as they might seem) that require people to travel long distances, including from overseas, or high-carbon-emitting affairs such as the Spring Nats.

The idea of adaptation to these changing times needs to be a central plank of council’s budget, as Shepparton is central to the Nicholls electorate, one of the highest-risk electorates in Australia for flooding — a risk that will only worsen as the climate continues to deteriorate.

This is not pretty, and any success in negotiating the challenges arising from climate change is going to require — no, demand — bold, courageous, adventurous, honest and athletic thinking.”

Cr Sam Spinks spoke in Shepparton’s Queen’s Garden at the recent local recognition of the 17th anniversary of the apology to the Stolen Generations by former prime minister Kevin Rudd.

Regarding the city’s Indigenous people, she said: “We have to do more than say the words, we have to turn up and do the work.”

Well, her sentiment also applies to addressing climate change here in Shepparton. “Turning up and doing the work” means at least a tenfold increase in the paltry less than one per cent currently allocated for such work in the city’s budget.

Last week, I sat through a webinar programmed by the Melbourne-based Sustainable Living Festival, where the speaker expanded on globally endorsed climate science.

He explained that we have already passed 1.5°C above pre-industrial temperatures, 2°C will follow next, and 3°C is certain before the end of this century.

Those temperatures are so extreme, and so certain, that a measly less than one per cent of the city’s budget will melt into insignificance and, subsequently, reeks of impotence.

Those eager to know more about what is ahead should listen to this webinar: tinyurl.com/hkne437u.

Robert McLean is a former editor of The News.