SUSTAINABILITY MATTERS By The Granite Belt Sustainable Action Network
The local government elections in March are our main focus for the first part of the year.
This is one of the big opportunities for GBSAN in 2024 and consistent with our mission to support initiatives that create a more environmentally, economically and socially sustainable Granite Belt.
If we are to achieve our goals, we must develop a strong and positive working relationship with the next mayor and councillors.
The last GBSAN Management Committee meeting in 2023 discussed and adopted a position on GBSAN’s involvement in the election, consistent with our commitment to maintaining a non-partisan, strictly neutral position when it comes to elections which is a core element of GBSAN’s strategic plan.
That is, GBSAN will not endorse any particular candidate but will instead focus on encouraging candidate support for key issues and initiatives that we believe will deliver a more sustainable Granite Belt in the longer term.
The unanimous management committee resolution reads;
“That GBSAN confines its organizational involvement in the upcoming local elections to;
∙ The development of a concise initiatives-based election agenda
∙ The engagement of all candidates around this agenda
∙ The publishing of the results of this engagement in regard to support or non-support
∙ The publishing of these results on the GBSAN website
∙ The publicising of these results across various media.
To be clear GBSAN will not be endorsing any candidate.
The next step will be preparing a series of questions for candidates developed by our GBSAN teams covering biodiversity, resource recovery, climate change and water security. Once the candidates are announced on 13 February, we’ll start the engagement process.
Once the responses to these questions are collated we’ll be engaging the local media and the community with a view to ensuring the environment and sustainability have a high profile during the campaign.
Through this process we are aiming to build solid and respectful working relationships with whoever the successful candidates are which will be the basis for furthering our agenda through the term of the next Southern Downs Regional Council.
