SECCCA Summer Update 2023
From the Acting CEO...
As we come to the end of another eventful year, we can reflect on the strength and resilience SECCCA continued to showcase whilst overcoming a number of challenges.
Foremost, we recently farewelled our outgoing CEO Dominique La Fontaine, who after almost 7 years in leadership at SECCCA, has had to step away from the role due to unforeseen circumstances. She has grown this organisation from strength to strength, leaving big shoes to fill. Leaving behind a powerful legacy, Dominique will be greatly missed by the entire SECCCA network.
As we currently recruit for a new CEO, my time spent as Acting CEO over the best part of the past 2 years, I am grateful for the leadership, guidance and support from our President, Simon Woodland as well as council representatives on our Management Committee and Councillor Advisory Group. The dedication of our members is the key factor to the success of SECCCA.
As we wrapped up many projects this year, our focus was also spent heavily on planning for the next four years. I was very pleased to see over 70 leaders at our annual breakfast event in support for our new Strategic Plan 2024-28: Working Together for Stronger Climate Action. The next four years poses significant challenges as we head towards the tail end of 2030 emission reduction targets. Our new strategy is reflective of the task at hand. SECCCA will be stepping up with increased ambition and intensified efforts over the next four years.
I look forward to an exciting year ahead, as I hand over the reigns to SECCCA’s new leader, finalise our current Strategic Plan and move into a new chapter of climate action, delivering with greater impact and ambition over the next four years.
Daniel Pleiter
Acting CEO
Annual Leaders Breakfast
In October, SECCCA hosted the annual Leaders Breakfast event, attended by a number of prominent State Members of Parliament, industry and business groups, peak bodies, and SECCCA member councillors and officers.
We were honoured to have State Minister for Climate Action, The Hon. Lily D’Ambrosio MP, deliver the keynote speech. This was followed by a terrific panel discussion featuring Mr John Bradley, Secretary of DEECA, Mr Tom Campbell, Co-Founder Footy for Climate Alliance, Ms Ange Nichols, Net Zero Lead for the Insurance Council of Australia and Cr Michael Whelan, Chair of SECCCA and Mayor of Bass Coast Shire Council.
This annual event provided a platform to launch SECCCA’s Strategic Plan 2024-28: Working Together for Stronger Climate Action. Discussions reflected the importance of a partnership approach to deliver stronger and more impactful results for our local communities, recognising SECCCA being a key mechanism in assisting members to achieve ambitious climate action at a regional scale. See more here.
Advocacy: Canberra Delegation
SECCCA was privileged to visit Canberra during sitting week on 19 October, meeting with Federal decision makers with SECCCA’s delegation led by Cr Michael Whelan (Chair, SECCCA), Cr Claire Harvey (Deputy-Chair, SECCCA), Simon Woodland (President, SECCCA), Dan Pleiter (Acting CEO), Georgia Langmaid (Executive Support Officer).
We met with Advisor to the Hon. Catherine King MP, Kristy McBain MP, Advisory to the Hon. Murray Watt and Advisors to the Hon. Jenny McAllister. Key topics discussed included climate risk, community emission reductions and opportunities for collaboration.
There is clear appreciation from the Federal level of the challenges facing local government and recognised the continuous effort of local government and the Alliances in managing climate action over the last decade, in the absence of consistent national leadership. Along with many other issues, SECCCA continues to advocate for increasing support across all key emission sectors such as transport, residential, commercial, industrial and waste. We look forward to continuing to represent the collective views of our member councils.
Annual Report 2023
Our Annual Report is now available on our website here. The report takes a deep dive into the journey and accomplishments from June 2022 – June 2023 across project work, advocacy and partnerships.
Job vacancy: Chief Executive Officer
SECCCA is currently looking for a CEO to join the team! Leading the SECCCA network of nine councils, this role is for an experienced leader and master communicator, bringing a set of strong skills in advocacy and an ability to build strong evidence-based arguments to support the vision and purpose of SECCCA. Read the full description here.
Measuring flood impact on residential dwellings
Building upon the existing SECCCA Asset Vulnerability Assessment, the Residential Case Study was recently completed, a project that’s provided a pathway for considering flood impacts on residential homes and estimating damage cost curves to then inform mitigation priorities and measures.
The project proved challenging due to data limitations, namely the absence of floor height data, flood depth data from Melbourne Water, councils own localised modelling data out of scope and other building information.
Findings from the Maribyrnong flood enquiry, as outlined in a recent news article, supports the findings of this Residential Case Study. It reinforces the critical importance for these data gaps to be resolved before more accurate modelling can occur and mitigation projects can be identified at each locality within the region so we can properly manage flood risks.
You can read the Findings and Methods Report from the Residential Casy Study here.