School kids climate strike targets PM
Phoebe Loomes |
Australian school students will join a global day of climate action on Friday, accusing the federal government of not caring about their futures.
Students will hold dozens of protests and actions in the lead up to the federal election, including school walkouts and strikes from Tweed Heads in northern NSW, Geraldton in WA, Toowoomba in Queensland and Melbourne in Victoria.
Friday’s School Strike 4 Climate will demand the federal government divert funding away from coal and gas projects and to clean, renewable energy, providing secure jobs and First Nations solutions.
“We are at the edge of a climate catastrophe, and our federal government is doing nothing to save us,” said Braydon Monahan, a 15-year-old from Tweed Heads.
“People only have to look outside of their windows to see what’s happening to our planet, yet our politicians continue to distract us with greenwashing campaigns rather than actual climate policy.
“(Prime Minister Scott) Morrison’s Government has shown us time and again that they do not care about the future of young Australians.”
Monahan believes the government “thinks they can dismiss us young people just because we don’t get a vote”, but added “young people are turning 18 years old by the minute”.
It comes after a full bench of the Federal Court last week found the Australian government does not owe children protection from the harm caused by climate change.
The full bench of the Federal Court ruled unanimously in favour of an appeal by Environment Minister Sussan Ley, reversing a decision by a previous judge that legally recognised she had a duty of care.
The appeal came after eight high school students took Ms Ley to court in 2020 to try and block the expansion of a NSW coal mine expected to produce an additional 100 million tonnes of carbon emissions.
AAP
