Newcastle mayoral candidates promise to deliver on climate and housing insecurity

At an online forum seeking their policy commitments across ten different proposals, mayoral candidates agreed, in principle, to support a safe car sleeping zone; to use council resources to identify a suitable location for it within the LGA; and to work with service providers to trial a locker system for people experiencing homelessness.

They also committed to push the council towards significant affordable housing benchmarks.

They agreed to ensure that the council captures the work of charitable and private sector homelessness services, and establish protocols for council staff engaging with people experiencing homelessness.

The climate change initiatives which they agreed to include plans to reduce the impacts of heatwaves and rising sea levels, economic diversification, and a community reference group for council to report to and consult with on all of its climate action plans.

Specifically, the five candidates committed to set targets to reduce city-wide carbon emissions across the LGA by at least 50 per cent by December 2030.

They also agreed to fund and implement measures to progress economic diversification and structural economic change as fossil fuel industries become less reliable within the LGA and more broadly across the Hunter.

Their views and their policy commitments were aired at a Hunter Community Alliance - run online forum, with the second in the series being held on Thursday for Lake Macquarie candidates, ahead of the local government election coming up in December.

Organisers described the outcome as huge win for members of the alliance who contributed their time and resources to developing the proposals and taking action. Members sought feedback from the community between October 2020 and April 2021 identifying housing insecurity, homelessness and climate change as respondents' key issues. Policy proposals for local governments to adopt were developed in response.

The Newcastle-focused forum heard from incumbent Lord Mayor Nuatali Nelmes, along with Liberal mayoral candidate Jenny Barrie, Independent John Church, Greens candidate John Mackenzie and Steve O'Brien from the Socialist Alliance.

Speakers included 17-year-old Alexa Stuart of Mayfield, the youth organiser for school strike for climate in Newcastle, and young citizen of the year in 2020, who talked about how the bushfires of 2019/20 made the impacts of climate change more real than ever, and how attending school strikes for climate helped her manage feelings of hopelessness.

"I still remember it so vividly, just feeling the energy and anger of the hundreds of young people that were there, and I left feeling so empowered and I realised then that action is the only real antidote for the hopelessness that I feel and I know so many others do," she said. "What we do now is going to define my life and the lives of all young people so I implore everyone ... to show more leadership and be more ambitious on this issue."

The Alliance, which formed in 2018, includes leaders from community, non-profit, environmental organisations, unions and religious groups. The Lake Macquarie City Mayor Forum runs from 6.30-8.30pm on Thursday, registrations via Eventbrite.

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