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In a peaceful protest, 2500 people encircled Parliament House on the first sitting day of Parliament for the year. It was a remarkable sight and fantastic display of people power. They came from all over the country – mums and dads, children, grandparents, teenagers.
It was also a celebration. For the first time, Australia’s community climate action groups had a national campaign strategy for tackling the climate emergency in 2009. This strategy was agreed during a three-day Climate Summit in Canberra.
| See photos from the day of action (Flickr) |
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Blog: read personal stories from the Climate Summit and protest
TAKE ACTION: Sign the climate emergency petition
Climate Summit delivers clear objectives
The Summit was a three-day intensive series of workshops and debates that resulted in 3 joint campaign objectives. These objectives are the way forward for for positive climate action in 2009.|
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| Climate Action Goals for 2009 | ||
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1. Prevent the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS) from becoming law as it will fail to make emissions cuts necessary to halt climate change. 2. Build community-wide action to demand green jobs, a just transition for workers in the fossil fuel industry and 100% renewable energy by 2020. 3. Aim for stabilisation at 300ppm CO2 and strong international agreement in line with what science and global justice demands. |
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Rudd needs to do more than window dressing
As thousands of Australians encircled Parliament House on Tuesday morning, it was clear that the federal government knew what was coming. The same day, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd announced that the government would spend $3.9 billion to allow 2.2 million homes to have insulation installed for free as part of a plan to reduce carbon emissions and create green jobs.
Energy efficiency is an important element in the struggle against climate change. But this offering will not reduce greenhouse pollution by anywhere near enough to stop the climate crisis. The 2500 Australians that surrounded Mr Rudd’s place of work – and the thousands of others they represented – know this.
Australia’s Climate Action Summit has set the tone for the months to come. Community pressure will continue to increase until Mr Rudd realises only action that stops the climate emergency will be enough.
