Cessnock Council suspends non-legislated net zero projects to stabilise finances

11 December 2025

Vincent Street Cessnock (Image: Wikipedia)

newy.com.au – Cessnock City Council has voted to suspend all non-legislated net zero expenditure, backing a motion from Ward B councillor Quintin King at its meeting on Wednesday 10 December 2025 in Cessnock.

The decision pauses council-funded climate initiatives that are not required under state or federal law at a time when the organisation is consulting on a proposed 39.9% rates hike and grappling with long-term budget deficits.

Under King’s notice of motion, council will suspend “all current and future expenditure, programs, projects, and activities related to achieving net zero emissions” unless they are mandated by legislation, direct the general manager to cease such initiatives, and redirect any savings to stabilising council’s finances and supporting core service delivery.

Much of the affected work sits within Cessnock’s Climate Change Resilience Plan, adopted in May 2023 to guide local action on climate risks and help deliver the council’s 2020 climate policy commitment to net zero emissions for council operations by 2050, consistent with federal and NSW targets.

“Tonight’s vote is a win for ratepayers,” King said after the meeting. “Council has made the responsible decision to pause a discretionary plan based on 25-year modelling and instead focus on what our community actually needs real savings and strong financial management.”

King argued the climate plan is not a legislated requirement and that suspending funding would prevent council being locked into “speculative spending during a period of financial strain”. “Our community is doing it tough. Households are battling cost-of-living pressures, and they expect Council to spend their money wisely,” he said. “Pausing this plan stops millions in future commitments while still allowing genuinely cost-saving projects to proceed on their own merits.”

The motion drew on earlier modelling presented to council that forecast more than $15 million in additional expenditure over 25 years to transition council operations to net zero. In a briefing attached to the business paper, council staff stressed that figure came from conceptual scenario modelling by consultants Ironbark Sustainability, not from the Climate Change Resilience Plan itself, and that the same modelling projected more than $6 million in net savings above that investment over the same period.

Staff also warned that suspending the plan would not reduce current committed capital spending but could prevent council from realising future savings and grants. Examples cited in the report included a $2 million LED street-lighting upgrade delivering about $350,000 a year in reduced electricity costs, behind-the-metre solar systems with three to four-year payback periods, food and garden organics (FOGO) diversion that could extend the life of an $80 million landfill cell by a decade, and potential methane power generation worth an estimated $150,000 a year in avoided costs.

“In summary, the $15 million referenced is from conceptual modelling in an earlier report and is not from the Climate Change Resilience Plan,” the director’s commentary stated, adding that a blanket suspension was “not supported from a financial sustainability perspective” compared with assessing projects case by case through the annual budget and business case process.

The vote comes as Cessnock runs a high-profile consultation on its financial position. Council has signalled it intends to apply to the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal for a permanent Special Variation in 2026–27 that would produce a cumulative 39.9% increase to general rates in a single year, after an independent review found ongoing operating deficits and underfunded infrastructure.

Council documents describe the proposed rise as a way to address an $8.1 million deficit and infrastructure backlog, while a recent news.com.au report and an online petition highlight community concern about the impact on household budgets, with organisers estimating an average additional bill of about $1,000 a year for many ratepayers.

King, a plant mechanic in the coal industry and former One Nation candidate for both the state seat of Cessnock and the federal seat of Shortland, has long campaigned against net zero policies. In a 2023 candidate profile he said it was “very frustrating” that no elected Hunter representative would stand up against net zero policies and the push towards 100% renewables.

“Good projects will still go ahead. What we have stopped is an entire 25-year agenda being pushed onto ratepayers without guaranteed returns,” King said of the council’s climate program. “From here on, every proposal must justify itself and demonstrate real value. That’s what financial responsibility looks like.”