Connect to collaborate: Key advocacy issues for 2025

The announcement and result of an Australian Federal Government election on 3 May will kick off a significant year of local government advocacy across climate adaptation, energy policy, circularity and other key sustainability themes in the region.

2025 is shaping up to be an exceptionally important year for the advocacy work ICLEI undertakes for its Members in Australia and the Pacific.

With the incumbent Australian Government strongly advocating to be the host of UNFCCC COP 31 in 2026, we will continue our engagement with the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (DCCEEW), leveraging our expertise in local government to facilitate tangible calls for action from communities through facilities like localised Town Hall COPs (see article on the Greater Sydney Town Hall COP).

ICLEI Oceania will also continue, throughout the year, to leverage its events, like our recent Connect to Collaborate meeting for ICLEI Member Councillors, and its strategic partnerships. Work on this engagement is already underway, with senior local government officer representatives from across Australia working with ICLEI to share environmentally focused motions for the annual Australian Local Government Association (ALGA) National General Assembly in June 2025, in line with insights shared by Eleanor Robson from ALGA at a focussed conversation delivered online by ICLEI in partnership with ALGA for its local government members and program participants held on 5 March. This seminar focused on how to write an impactful, successful motion aimed at strengthening the system of local government nationally based on 12 priority areas of: 

  • Intergovernmental relations

  • Financial sustainability

  • Roads and infrastructure

  • Emergency management

  • Housing and homelessness

  • Jobs and skills

  • Community services

  • Closing the Gap and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Reconciliation

  • Data, digital technology and cyber security

  • Climate change and renewable energy

  • Environment

  • Circular economy 

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More detail on this in the 2025 NGA Discussion Paper.

ICLEI Oceania