A group of around 80 protestors caused the Onkaparinga Council meeting to be adjourned last night, Tuesday 17 January.

The group was opposed to a proposal for the council to declare a climate emergency.

It had called on social media for people to attend the meeting and voice their disapproval of ‘climate restrictions”.

Cr Marion Themeliotis put forward the climate emergency motion, calling on the council to move to carbon neutrality by 2040 and to take all possible actions to help mitigate the adverse impact of catastrophic climate change.

Previously, 15 other South Australian councils have declared a climate emergency and 112 nationally.

City of Onkaparinga Mayor Moira Were says disruption at the council meeting resulted in a formal motion to adjourn the meeting.

“Unfortunately there was an interruption to the meeting due to audio visual technical issues, meaning the large crowd gathered outside of the Council chamber were unable to adequately hear the meeting, resulting in disruptive and aggressive behaviour from members of the public,” she says.

“It’s very disappointing that we were not able to conduct business safely in an open and transparent way.

“I’m concerned about the elected members, staff, and public who came to tonight’s meeting with good will, to talk about the issues important to them – such as the Lions Club of Seaford and Districts, and the Rotary Club of Seaford.

“It is a place for respectful and open discussion, debate and decision making.

“We understand from social media that there was a lot of interest in the City of Onkaparinga’s proposed declaration of a climate emergency.

“It was a key issue during the election campaign and tonight’s agenda item to discuss declaring a climate emergency raised further interest.

“We look forward to the opportunity for this issue to be discussed in a robust, transparent but most importantly, a safe manner.

“We know our community cares about this issue —81 per cent of respondents to our 2021 Community Survey agreed that ‘not addressing climate change would be a risk to our city’.

“This tells us our community want to discuss this issue and we’re working towards a solution where we can resume the meeting in a safe manner to progress this.”

Other items on the meeting agenda included the construction and lease of storage facilities for the Lions Club and Rotary Club of Seaford, approval of the Australia Day Awards recipients for 2023, and appointment to the State Bushfire Coordination Committee.

The meeting has yet to be rescheduled and Mayor Were says the council will provide details about the next meeting in due course on the City of Onkaparinga website.