A FIFTH OF VICTORIA’S SMALLEST BOROUGH REBELS:
20% of ratepayers deliver letters to save climate plan
QUEENSCLIFFE,
VIC – 8 OCTOBER 2026 - A massive grassroots pushback is now concerning the
administration at the Borough of Queenscliffe, with fast approaching 20% of
local ratepayers taking the unprecedented step of hand-delivering physical,
hard-copy "Letition" Open Letters directly to the Council chambers
for Councillors.
Letition.org
= Pressure; empowering the community.
The extraordinary surge in community concerns comes in response to fears that a
4 -1 approach inside the Council that is using an ongoing independent review by
Nation Partners to water down and quietly rebrand the town's highly celebrated
Climate Emergency Response Plan (CERP) into a diminished "Climate
Strategy."
The
community campaign, a digital letter-petition hybrid printed out en masse by
residents, has allegedly shattered Council narratives regarding the cost of
local climate initiatives.
Local advocates have revealed that the Borough’s current climate framework
utilises just 1% of collected
municipal rates, costing households an average of only $35 per year.
The
campaign's 20% milestone when reached will put immense pressure on a divided
Council. In mid-2025, Deputy Mayor Brendan Monahan led a successful 4–1 motion
enforcing a strict financial review of the plan. Furthermore, a controversial
Council vote in July 2025 stripped climate change, biodiversity, and
Wadawurrung heritage references from the town’s official Community Vision
document, despite an internal Freedom of Information (FOI) report proving the
vast majority of surveyed residents strongly opposed the deletions.
With
the independent Nation Partners community roundtables currently underway this
October, residents are using the physical delivery of Open Letters to send a
clear warning to local officials and executive staff.
Community
organisers state the hard-copy campaign will continue to arrive at individual
Councillor inboxes and desks until the Council publicly commits to preserving
the strict net-zero carbon targets originally aimed at for completion by 2031.
A
letter box campaign starts mid Oct. A public meeting is planned by Borough
residents for Saturday the 14th
of Nov 2026 to cover isses of the CERP and the Community Vision with a Survey.
Register using Eventbrite
An Open LETITION Letter has been initiated by Queenscliffe & Point Lonsdale residents concerned for our region’s future. You can send your own letter here.
