Tens of thousands of students took to the streets on Friday to protest the government’s inaction on climate change. Source: Julian Meehan, Wikimedia Commons
Tens of thousands of students took to the streets across Australia on Friday to protest the government’s lack of action on climate change.
Students were encouraged to use a “climate doctor’s certificate” and take a sick day from school, citing concerns about worsening damage from global warming.
Several thousand came out in Melbourne, starting in Flagstaff Gardens before marching through the city.
Schools themselves allowed many families and students to participate in the climate rallies, stressing the importance of standing up to the inaction of the government, and fighting for children’s future.
Protestors in Melbourne blocked traffic during sit-ins at major intersections in the city, and hundreds of protestors in Sydney gathered outside Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek’s office, chanting “shame.”
Australia currently braces itself for a summer of high temperatures and increased bushfires, and school students say they are disappointed with Anthony Albanese and the Labor government for their lack of action.
“I was expecting at the very minimum, no new coal and gas – that’s a very minimal demand, that we shouldn’t make it worse,” 16-year-old Alexander Duggan told SBS.
“Governments want to pretend they’re doing things, but things like the offset scheme are just to make us think that they’re doing things – it doesn’t address the root causes.”
Nirvana Talukder, organiser for School Strike 4 Climate, said that students have been fighting for the same demands for climate action since the first protests back in 2019.
“We want a government that cares for the lives of its people and the planet, not a government that funds a crisis that kills,” Talukder told protestors in Sydney.
Torres Strait Islander elders Pabai Pabai and Paul Kabai were in Melbourne for hearings in their landmark court cases against the Australian government for climate inaction.
Pabai Pabai and Paul Kabai spoke at the rallies, with Pabai saying he was happy to be supporting the school strike to help deliver an important message to the government.
“I say to them, ‘help us’,” Pabai said.
“I say to them, ‘the time for politics must stop, you must take action urgently to protect us from climate change, if you don’t, we’ll lose everything’.”
