On Sunday September 25th, hundreds of young people took part in a rally in Brisbane with a clear message for Treasurer Jim Chalmers: protect our future by ensuring no new funding for fossil fuels in the October budget update.
This action was part of Power Shift youth climate summit, at which over 350 young people built skills to take action on climate change.
In the previous term of government, Scott Morrison committed millions of dollars in public money to expand new fossil fuel projects, which would blow Australia’s carbon budget and contribute to worsening climate change.
Whether we live far in the bush or in the middle of a city, all of us want clean air and water, a healthy environment, and a safe future to grow up in. But pollution from burning coal, oil and gas is causing a warming world, with more extreme weather like bushfires, drought and floods.
We’re calling on the Albanese Government to:
- ❌Commit to no new public subsidies for coal or gas in the budget
- 🌀Repeal existing and pledged subsidies for fossil fuels
- 👂Listen to Traditional Owners calling for land rights and opposition to proposed projects
Right across this continent, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities are on the front lines of fossil fuel extraction and climate change impacts. We need this Government to follow the leadership of First Nations communities fighting to protect Country and the climate, instead of bankrolling more fossil fuels. Instead of lining the pockets of big polluters, public money should fund things that matter to all of us, like publicly-owned renewable energy, services like health and education, and support for those already hit hard by climate change.
The October Budget is a chance for Labor to mop up the Morrison government’s mess of handouts to fossil fuel corporations making a profit off dangerous gas projects. Public money should fund things that matter to all of us, like publicly-owned renewable energy, services like health and education, and support for those already hit hard by climate change.
