Latest news with #DarebinCouncil
Sky News AU
4 days ago
- Politics
- Sky News AU
ABC under fire for pushing ‘environmental lunacy' after claiming heated local swimming pools contributing to rise in emissions
The ABC has been ridiculed for publishing an article claiming the use of gas-fired boilers to heat public swimming pools in Melbourne was contributing to a rise in the city's carbon output despite Australia making up only 1 per cent of global emissions. In a piece published on Monday, the ABC took aim at a number of inner city Melbourne councils for continuing to heat public pools and aquatic centres with gas-boilers. The article said that as 'temperatures plummet in winter' heating community pools 'came at an environmental cost' and that the use of gas-fired boilers were making up as much as half of local councils greenhouse gas emissions. The ABC chose to expose the City of Darebin and emphasised that its Reservoir Leisure Centre formed 60 per cent of the localities remaining gas use, despite Darebin Council legislating for all council owned buildings to switch to an electric based system by 2030. Sky News host Caleb Bond slammed the public broadcaster for targeting Melbourne local councils that were taking active steps to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions and said that peoples' swimming patterns would not alleviate global warming. 'If a heated swimming pool is the worst of our worries in terms of our emissions, I think we are doing bloody well,' Bond said. 'This stuff is in some way dangerous because it lulls people into thinking that if they made some small adjustment in their life then it is somehow going to make a major difference to the world. The ABC also interviewed Jim Shen; a 42-year-old local who visits the Darebin Reservoir Leisure Centre on a regular basis with Mr Shen calling on the council to transition its indoor heated pools to 'colder outdoor pools.' 'They found one bloke in this story - Jim Shen - who unsuccessfully ran for his local council under an environmental banner,' Bond said, lashing the ABC's choice of commentary. Bond accused the ABC of fearmongering and for presenting a one-dimensional narrative that ignored the fact that Australia's contribution to global emissions came in at barely one per cent. 'You not going for a swim in a pool that's heated by gas is also going to do bugger all for the world. But you get to absolve yourself of all guilt, and say I've fixed the problem when you actually haven't,' Bond said. Darebin Council was the first locality in the world to declare the planet was in the throes of a 'climate emergency' and has also passed an emergency action plan to combat the impact of climate change. Late Debate host Freya Leach also took aim at the ABC's article and said that climate change would continue to intensify even if all inner-city Melbourne councils switched to a renewable based grid. 'Even if all these local councils went fully renewable it would do absolutely nothing to fix global climate change, it's wild,' Leach said. 'It would do nothing, and it would cost ratepayers millions to refurbish these pools with electric heaters instead of gas boilers, it's another example of environmental lunacy that does nothing to solve the actual problems. Prominent journalist Joe Hildebrand labelled Darebin the 'hipster Mecca of Melbourne' and said the story was a perfect example of 'gentrification' and 'inner city values being forced on normal people.' 'The leisure centre they are talking about is what outsiders would call a reservoir, what once used to be s rough as guts battler working class area that is now starting to be gentrified,' Hildebrand said. 'This great facility the community has got where you can go for a swim is now under attack by ideologues."
Sky News AU
30-06-2025
- Politics
- Sky News AU
Street sweeper Shaun Turner says he speaks for 'silent majority' after questioning use of Acknowledgement to Country during Darebin Council work meeting
The Melbourne council street sweeper sacked over questioning the use of an Acknowledgement to Country before a work meeting has argued the ceremonies are being overdone and that he had to take a stand for the "silent majority". Shaun Turner, 60, last week won his unfair dismissal case against Darebin Council after he was let go when he asked why the ritual was being introduced at a toolbox meeting. He had argued in the meeting "people who have worn the uniform and fought" for Australia are the ones that should be thanked, later telling councillors he did not have to be "welcomed into my own country" and that the use of it was "getting out of hand". The council alleged Mr Turner said Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people "do not deserve an acknowledgement at the start of meetings" in a disrespectful way. But the Fair Work Commission found Mr Turner's way of expression was not aggressive, as claimed by the council, and that his opinion did not warrant being sacked. Speaking to The Australian, who first reported the story, the father-of-three said the use of Acknowledgement to Country in small meetings was "pushing it too far". Mr Turner doubled down on previous remarks that the ceremony should be reserved for special occasions and foreign dignitaries when they visit the country. "I think the silent majority who won't just say anything, but they probably all think the same way but they don't want to upset the apple cart," he said. Asked if Australia has become "too politically correct", the council worker said "it's all gone too far the other way and people have just had enough now". 'I just feel like if you were a pale, stale male you can't go to work now and have a laugh. If me and you are having a laugh, and he (a third person) takes it to management, well, next minute we're getting a warning for not being inclusive," he said. Mr Turner, who voted for the Liberal Party at the federal election, said often people jump jump to accusations of racism if they question the Welcome to Country. But he insisted he has "no problem with Aboriginal people". The Fair Work Commission is still considering whether the worker from Research, northeast of Melbourne's outskirts, should be compensated or be given his job back. Mr Turner is unsure whether he wants to continue in the role again due to a painful shoulder condition that had left him on WorkCover prior to being sacked. He would consider being redeployed to another role and/or compensation. Overnight, Senator Pauline Hanson praised Mr Turner for speaking his mind. "That council worker, good on him for actually fighting back over it and questioning it. And yet he's lost his job. He's won it in the courts and I hope that they actually apologise to him and offer his job back," Senator Hanson told Sky News' Danica and James. It comes after a poll from the Institute of Public Affairs over the weekend found 56 per cent of people surveyed say Welcome to Country Ceremonies are divisive.
Sky News AU
26-06-2025
- Politics
- Sky News AU
‘Out of hand': Council worker terminated for refusing Acknowledgement of Country
Sky News host Peta Credlin discusses the termination of a council worker's employment for questioning a workplace Acknowledgement of Country. 'What kind of an employer would insist on beginning every meeting, even a weekly meeting of the street cleaning team, with an acknowledgment of country?' Ms Credlin said. 'The Darebin Council, that's who – possibly the most woke council in Victoria. 'These acknowledgments have totally got out of hand – they've become a way of saying that the country belongs to some of us more than to all of us.'
