Walking the talk in local government

Oliver Neighbourly Lead from One Tree Point

Congratulations to our re-elected mayor Sheryl Mai for choosing a fully electric vehicle as her next mayoral car, as reported here in today's Northern Advocate.
It is a ratepayer-funded car, so some of us will probably object to the higher purchase cost of an electric vehicle at our expense (although the spending limit was not exceeded), however, the savings on running cost and the avoided emissions (which we are not yet costing properly in NZ) make this the absolutely correct decision.
Getting us underway on a just and fair transition to a sustainable, circular, low-emissions economy means taking a long-term view and investing in the right kinds of technology, not doing things on the cheap and playing the silly old keep-the-cost-down-in-the-short-term game. This is what walking the talk looks like, and I'm glad to see that some of our council members are setting a good example for all of us.