COUNCILLOR Jess Jennings has been accused by a colleague of political grandstanding in the council chamber, after raising his second notice of motion in as many months.
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Notices of motion had been rare at Bathurst Regional Council meetings, with none lodged for several years.
However, Cr Jennings has bucked that trend at the past two meetings, calling on council last month to confirm its support for the Racial Discrimination Act and this week asking colleagues to declare the region a coal seam gas (CSG) free zone.
But the introduction of state and federal matters into the local chamber has clearly annoyed some councillors.
Councillor Michael Coote, while supporting the CSG-free proposal on Wednesday night, suggested Cr Jennings – the failed Labor candidate for Calare at last year’s federal election – might be pushing another agenda.
“Last meeting there was a notice of motion about the Racial Discrimination Act that was turned down, this month it’s another motion about coal seam gas – will it be NBN next and asking council to write a letter to [Communications Minister] Malcolm Turnbull?” Cr Coote said. “We’re here for the benefit of our region, not to grandstand or try to get political traction.
“It seems with these types of things Cr Jennings is trying to get traction to a political angle and this is not the forum.”
Cr Jennings’ notice of motion also called on council to write to the NSW Central Region of Councils (CENTROC) board, asking it to take a similar position for the whole CENTROC region.
Again, though, Cr Coote smelled a rat.
“Last week we had CENTROC here and Cr Jennings didn’t raise anything at that meeting,” he said.
In response, Cr Jennings said it would have been inappropriate for him to raise coal seam gas with CENTROC.
“The reason I didn’t raise it is because if I’m in a meeting with CENTROC I’m not there to speak for all of council,” he said.
Cr Jennings said he had been concerned about the impacts on the Bathurst region for some time and chaired a community forum on the issue two years ago.
He said the state government was on the record saying it was looking to “fast track” NSW CSG exploration licence applications and said councillors should not sit back and wait for the issue to be impacting local property owners.
“If you’re willing to stand in front of a farmer and say this is not a big enough issue for us to deal with, then I totally disagree,” he said.
In the end, Cr Jennings’ notice of motion was unanimously supported.
The notice of motion states that council “recognises there are various unacceptable risks and uncertainty associated with any possible coal seam gas (CSG) mining in the Bathurst region and hence declares council to be a CSG free zone”.
Council will also write to CENTROC seeking support for a wider CSG free zone.