A member of the Wodonga and Albury Towards Climate Health (WATCH) group has welcomed Albury Council's decision to declare a climate emergency, but says he'd like to see his own local government, Wodonga, do the same.
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Bruce Key spoke on behalf of WATCH at Monday night's Albury council meeting to support of a motion from councillor Ashley Edwards that acknowledged a climate emergency.
Mr Key said he was happy Albury councillors unanimously voted in favour of the motion, after a similar motion was shot down two years ago.
"It's a move in the right direction," he said.
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"Although Albury Council has been doing a remarkably good job in recent past in all issues to do with sustainability and climate change mitigation, but this will sort of spur them on to more actions."
Mr Key said his own city, Wodonga, should declare a climate emergency, too.
"But it's a question of whether that will happen and I wouldn't be too optimistic at this early stage," he said.
"Part of that reasoning is because Kat Bennett decided to step down from council yesterday and she's a great ally in doing things about climate change."
Mr Key said he was unsure if other Wodonga councillors would be as strong a voice as Cr Bennett had been in advocating for climate change action.
A Wodonga Council spokesperson said the declaration of a climate emergency would be a matter for councillors to consider should they feel it appropriate and that council was working on the development of a new climate change adaptation action plan, after the latest one expired last year.
Albury Councillor Ashley Edwards said she was proud her motion had passed and to be part of Albury's current "more progressive" council.
"A number of us did run our election platforms on this issue, I wasn't the only one, so it was great to see not just support from other councilors but unanimous support which was very different to last time," she said.
"It's so good for us to tell the community that we believe in the science, that we acknowledge the urgency with the matter and we're committed to action for us and future generations."
Cr Edwards said she thought more science and seeing the intense January storms around the Border could have swayed councillors thoughts on climate change.
"Having council itself having to deal with all those flooding and issues shone a light on it," she said.
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