Make Melbourne Green

The Melbourne City Greens held a successful fund-raiser on Wednesday night, hosted by former Lord Mayor (1988-89) Winsome McCaughey, the city’s second female Lord Mayor and one of the first dedicated conservationists to chair council.

Four eco-friendly wineries, including McCaughey’s own Baddaginnie Run, set up at Acquum in North Melbourne to provide attendees, including all Greens Melbourne City Council candidates, and councillors and MLCs from across the city, with a wonderful selection of wines to taste and buy.

Ms McCaughey addressed the crowd, speaking about the need for all levels of government to start seriously tackling climate change, and threw her support behind Greens lead Councillor candidate and long-time friend Cathy Oke.

Ms McCaughey’s comments came just hours after the federal government released its Emissions Trading Green Paper, a document fraught with problems and mixed-messages. She, like the Greens Council Candidates, expressed concern that the proposed Emissions Trading Scheme simply won’t send a signal for change.

Finishing with cause for hope, Greens Lord Mayor Candidate Adam Bandt outlined measures that all levels of government should be taking to provide Australians with practical ways to fight climate change. He hinted at what a council with more elected Greens could do with the tens of millions of council dollars currently being funneled into State Government projects… The Greens’ Solar Panel Initiative will be announced in the coming months!

Above: Hundreds of protesters spell the words “CLIMATE EMERGENCY” in Alexandra Gardens, and Greens Lead Councillor Candidate Dr Cathy Oke with Senator Bob Brown.

Climate Emergency Rally and the Draft Garnaut Report

On Saturday afternoon the Green Melbourne City Council Candidates attended the Climate Emergency Rally organised by a coalition of 60 community groups, including the Greens, that are frustrated with State and Federal government inaction on climate change.

A great turnout sent a clear message that we all want positive action immediately to address the Climate Emergency facing us all. Greens Leader Senator Bob Brown was one of the guest speakers, urging greater Government action NOW!

The rally came a day after Professor Ross Garnaut’s draft report on Climate Change was released - ironic timing given that a day earlier, Premier John Brumby announced another greenhouse gas intensive coal fired power plant for Victoria.

… or ‘How to stuff up Kensington, North Melbourne, Clifton Hill … the planet.’ For a copy of the Eddington report together with an explanation about why it’s disastrous for inner-city Melbourne, follow the link to our Eddington page, and add your comments to the blog.

While this site is being built, this article from The Age, Liberal and Labor, make a call: how much heat can you stand?, by Adam Bandt and Richard Di Natale, is unfortunately still relevant.