Students demand better from gas-obsessed Morrison Government

Emily Graetz reports on today’s School Strike for Climate.

Thousands rallied at Town Hall today to protest against the Morrison government’s inadequate action on climate change. The event, led by the students from the School Strike for Climate group, was joined by a contingent of USyd, UTS and UNSW students. 

Prior to the strike, USyd’s Enviro Collective led a gathering outside Fisher Library. The collective called for a just transition to clean jobs, 100% publicly owned renewable energy and no new gas and coal projects on Indigenous land, before joining with UTS students and continuing on to the rally. 

Today’s rally came after an historic moment for the Enviro Collective who hosted the first Student General Meeting in over a decade, which called upon the University to support the climate strike.

At Town Hall, Aunty Rhonda Dixon-Grovener opened with a Welcome to Country, calling on “Mother earth and Father sky to be nurtured and respected”. Aunty Rhonda emphasised the need to centre First Nations voices in the fight for climate justice, a sentiment echoed by all of the speakers throughout the rally. 

Ian Brown, Gamillaraay Next Generation activist, exposed the inadequacy of the government in working with First Nations and local communities on the Santos Narrabri Gas project, proclaiming that they had denied sovereign rights and “disregarded fears”. He spoke of his pride in seeing the thousands of students in attendance and emphasised the need for community action in addressing government failures. 

“We are not accountable to the government, the government is accountable to us… the power we put them in can just as easily be taken away from them”, Brown said. 

First Nations 19-year old man, Will, described a harrowing scene of environmental destruction, referencing his experience of the 2017 Gosford Mountain fires which “painted the forest black”  and more recent flooding. “These impacts are not normal, they are fiercer”, he said.
Will went on to decry Origin Energy’s fracking of the NT without the consent of traditional owners of the land before highlighting the extensiveness of climate destruction across the country. 

“Today we stand up to say enough. We stand up to say it is not ok for companies like Origin to frack our lands. Today we stand up to say it is not ok for our government to pay for the exploitation of its people. Today we stand so tomorrow we can sit and listen to our Elders and reimagine what our society needs to be,” Will said. 

Pelepesite Matangi, a Pacific Climate Warrior who continues to fight the climate crisis unfolding on the shorelines of the Pacific Islands, spoke about the way that Indigenous, Black and marginalised communities are hit hardest by climate change. She emphasised the importance of working together “to show the world what true climate action looks like”.

Speaking of future generations of Pacific Islanders, Matangi said, “I want them to go home and feel at home, to experience the Islands for themselves. I want them to feel the cool air while the sun is high in the sky and hear all the roosters of the village cry one after the other as the sun peaks into the horizon”. 

Electrical Trades Union (ETU) member and national secretary, Allen Hicks, spoke of his experience completing his electricians apprenticeship in the coal mines and the urgent need to provide more secure pathways for workers to transition to clean energy jobs. He bemoaned the government’s lacklustre efforts to stand up for workers, arguing that they had prioritised out of date coal-mining over climate-friendly innovation. Hicks proposed offshore wind farming as a worker and environmentally friendly solution before speaking of the pride he felt in seeing students turn out at the rally.  

Patrick Rudd, a 17 year old student from Port Macquarie, concluded the speeches with a striking reflection on going to school in air quality that was 21x the safe limit during last year’s bushfire season. He denied Scott Morrison’s suggestion that only inner cities were concerned with climate change, stating that the “regions are angry too”. He said that whilst the government could dismiss the concerns of young Australians now, they couldn’t do so forever - Rudd encouraged the students to utilise their future voting rights to fight for a better future. 

The MC’s of the event spoke about other struggles faced by Australian youth today and the demand for earlier consent education. They encouraged attendees to sign a petition to have potential reform debated in the NSW Legislative Assembly. The crowd continued the rally with a march to Prince Alfred Park. 

The University contingent were met with police aggression at UTS who forced students off the road with excessive physical force. More coverage coming soon.

If you want to get involved in climate action at USyd, you can stay up to date with the Enviro Collective’s work here. 

Photography by Kristin Miao.