Australia’s National Local Government Newspaper LGFocus.com.au
JUNE 2025
Young mayor pushes for inclusiveness Kingston continues to foster an appreciation of democracy in local school students thanks to their long-running Junior Mayor program.
Kingston Mayor Georgina Oxley with new Junior Mayor Evie Brandon-Cope.
Evie Brandon-Cope, from Edithvale Primary School, has been elected as Kingston’s Junior Mayor for 2025/26. Evie will now work alongside Kingston Mayor Georgina Oxley to represent the community at key events and functions including citizenship ceremonies, official openings and much more. Mayor Oxley said the Junior Mayor program provides a great opportunity to recognise and celebrate the achievements of young people in Kingston. “This is one of my favourite events of the year because it’s always really great to hear from our young leaders about their ideas on how to make Kingston an even better place to live,” Cr Oxley said. “We want to encourage young people to take an active role in our community and give them the opportunity to develop skills in leadership and public speaking and to learn more about how democracy and local government works. “Inspiring the next generation of leaders starts with giving them a voice today.” The Junior Mayor program has run for more than 60 years in a successful partnership with Chelsea Rotary.
Climate readiness Fraser Coast Regional Council is leading a new project to help communities across the Wide Bay Burnett and Central Queensland regions better prepare for the impacts of climate change. By Tania Phillips The Wide Bay Burnett and Central Queensland Climate Resilient Alliance will bring eight councils together to share knowledge, collaborate on practical climate responses and coordinate educational campaigns for challenges like floods, storms, heatwaves and other natural hazards. The new initiatives come as the Climate Council place the blame for the intensity of last month’s NSW flooding on Climate Change. Fraser Coast Mayor George Seymour said the impacts of climate change don’t stop at council boundaries, which is why a regional approach is so important. “By working together, we can support our communities, protect our natural environment, and make our region more resilient to the challenges ahead,” he said. The councils involved in the alliance are: Fraser Coast Regional Council (lead), Cherbourg Aboriginal Shire Council, Gympie Regional Council, North Burnett Regional Council, South Burnett Regional Council, Livingstone Shire Council, Rockhampton Regional Council, Gladstone Regional Council. The alliance has received a $100,000 grant through a partnership between the Local Gov-
ernment Association of Queensland (LGAQ) and the Queensland Government to support regional climate planning and resilience work. The project will support local action across four key areas: Environment – shared plans to manage climate risks and care for our natural areas; Community – giving residents more opportunities to be involved and supported in preparing for future impacts; Social connections – strengthening ties between councils, community groups and businesses; Economy – helping to attract investment, support climate-smart infrastructure, and grow jobs in sustainable industries. Cr Seymour said the alliance would also help councils access future grants and funding for local projects. The initiative comes as NSW’s Mid North Coast continues to count the costs of their recent floods which the Climate Council believe have been made more destructive due to Climate Change. Climate Change CEO Amanda McKenzie the Mid-North Coast of NSW’s record breaking flooding, after experiencing back to back extreme weather events in the last few years wasn’t down just to nature. “It is critical that we understand that such di-
sasters are no longer simply “natural”,” she said. “Extreme rainfall events have become more frequent and intense in Australia, and communities are suffering the consequences. Again and again. “It is vital that emergency services, media, governments and communities understand why these events are occurring with increasing frequency and ferocity to ensure that we can both tackle the root cause - pollution from coal, oil and gas - as well as prepare for more destructive disasters into the future.” She said there were at least three ways that climate change is influencing the intensity of these floods: More water in the atmosphere leads to more heavy downpours. As the climate heats the global atmosphere holds more moisture. The total amount of water vapour in the atmosphere reached a record value in 2024, at about five percent above the 1991–2020 average. With the atmosphere laden with more moisture extreme downpours have become more common. “The latest research for Australia shows that more rain is falling during extreme events. We are experiencing: 28 per cent more rain for shorter duration rainfall events - the type of events associated with flash flooding and 15 per
cent more rain for longer duration events,” she said. “This range is much higher than the 5 per cent figures that are used in existing flood planning standards used by the likes of policy makers, engineers and urban planners. “A hotter, wetter and more energetic climate also means there is more energy to fuel storms that generate heavy rainfall. “Since July 2024, sea surface temperatures in Australia have been the warmest or second warmest on record for each respective month. That means the energy available to power storms has also increased – largely due to rising ocean temperatures from the burning of fossil fuels. “A near-stationary high pressure system in the Tasman sea has contributed to the persistence of this rainfall event, stalling a moist, easterly flow of air over the NSW coast. Similarly in major flooding events in 2021 and 2022 blocking high contributed to the severity of flooding. Emerging research suggests that climate change may affect the drivers of multi-day rainfall extremes, including a “blocking high” (CSIRO and BoM 2024). This is an important area for further research.”