News in brief

City urges government to cut red tape

The City of Sydney has urged members of NSW Parliament to reform outdated electricity regulations preventing the installation of low-carbon trigeneration electricity plants. At a hearing of the NSW Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee into trigeneration, the City of Sydney’s Chief Development Officer Energy and Climate Change, Allan Jones, said the City’s views were echoed by major businesses groups that want to bring more efficient energy systems to Australia. “Trigeneration is a proven way to produce electricity locally, and not only slash carbon emissions but reduce energy costs at the same time,” Mr Jones said. The City of Sydney spent $8.1 million on attempting to deliver the trigeneration network before shelving the plan, citing regulatory barriers.

Forster reveals same-sex marriage plans

City of Sydney Councillor Christine Forster has revealed that she is engaged to her partner Virginia Edwards, and plans to marry her as soon as same-sex marriage becomes legal in Australia. The Councillor, who is the brother of Prime Minister Tony Abbott, revealed her wedding plans in this week’s issue of New Idea magazine. The couple told the magazine they planned to have their wedding at Circular Quay’s Café Sydney, and would have drag queens instead of bridesmaids. Ms Forster said she expected her famous brother to be there, despite his ongoing opposition to same-sex marriage.

Callan Park sporting grounds open

The official opening of three new sporting grounds will be held this Saturday, October 26 with the Callan Park Family Sports Day celebrating new space for local sporting clubs. Leichhardt Mayor Darcy Byrne said the new sporting grounds at Glover St in Lilyfield will provide a welcome addition and are desperately needed in the Leichhardt LGA. “For too long, the critical shortage of playing fields has meant that local children and young people have been turned away from taking part in local sport,” he said. Council has invested $1.5 million in building two full sized sports grounds at Glover St and another playing field next to Balmain Rd in Callan Park.