🔵 The NIMBYs are back in town

HEARD THIS WEEK👂

🐈️ Out of the bag: Mosman council calls for cats to be kept inside

Should cat owners be responsible for keeping their kitties inside? 

Yes, says Mosman Council.

Following last Tuesday’s meeting, the North Shore council has written to NSW Parliament in support of a bill that would require cat owners to keep their cats inside, “similar to existing requirements for dogs”. 

What happened: The bill was introduced to Parliament by Greens MP Sue Higginson late last month.

The bill aims to address the severe impact domestic cats have on native Australian wildlife. 

• According to the Invasive Species Council, domestic cats in Australia kill more than 100 million native mammals, birds and reptiles each year. 

A common theme: It’s not the first time the issue has arisen across the North Shore. 

Read more below.

🏗️ Facing a demand for development, Mosman Council will make its own alternative housing plan

For months, Mosman council has been in a tough spot, caught between residents' outrage at increased development and a state planning department insistent on reaching its housing goals.

What happened: Lacking the authority and resources to challenge the decisions of its superior — the NSW state government — Mosman council has chosen an alternative path: moving to develop a plan for the area that accommodates both state housing goals and residential concerns over development. 

• While it is not certain that the plan developed by Mosman will be accepted, there is precedent for the move in Ku-ring-gai. 

• Earlier this year, Ku-ring-gai council reached an agreement with the state where it would present its own plan for housing goals.

Read the full piece below.

🥧 Back on the pie trail: Pierre’s Patisserie, Turramurra

I was very lucky last week to be able to try another North Shore pie. This time I was venturing up north, following a century-old murder mystery, when I stopped in for a beef brisket pie in Turramurra.

Hear my review below.

LOOKING NATIONALLY 👀 

Did the Nationals abandon net zero based on bad maths?

The National Party’s decision to abandon its support for Net Zero emissions is based on a report that contains a large mistake. How large? Over $100 billion.

What happened: The Nationals dropped net zero largely based on a report written by the Nationals-aligned Page Research Centre (Page), described by party leader David Littleproud as a “policy document” when he presented it to Opposition leader Sussan Ley.

The report claims that coal is cheaper than renewables, saying: “Independent modelling by Arche Energy found that an ultra-supercritical coal plant could supply electricity for around $82 per megawatt hour, compared to $145 per megawatt hour for solar, wind and battery combinations.”

But the report has a major flaw: it models the long term costs of coal as if brand-new coal plants already exist in Australia. This leaves out the over $100 billion it would actually cost to build them, and it ignores the tens of billions in grid upgrades that coal generation would still require.

Is the claim that coal is cheaper true? No.

Solar and wind are the lowest-cost new power sources in nearly every market in the world.

Watch Archie’s full video on it below.