Several thousand students and schoolchildren marched to City Hall in Sydney on Friday to protest against government inaction in tackling climate change and the authorities’ support for new fossil fuel projects
“The climate crisis is worsening, with forest fires and floods ravaging the country and taking lives, but the Australian government is supporting fossil fuel projects to expand extraction. The rich continue to profit by destroying our planet and make us pay for it. “Not taking action [to combat climate change] is an attempt to deny what is happening, but we intend to fight for immediate action in the interests of the people [of the world]”, – Chloe Rafferty of the environmental organization Uni Students for Climate Justice told TASS.
Organisers of the rally also said they were calling on Australian authorities to recognise the country’s climate situation as a crisis and start tackling it. “The government [Scott] Morrison (Prime Minister of Australia – note TASS) could have protected our ecology and created thousands of new jobs, developing the renewable energy sector. Instead, they are helping multinational gas companies make and increase profits. “Today we are protesting to tell the government that if they care about our future they should stop spending money on [gas] production,” said the youth environmental organisation School Strike 4 Climate.
The protests, which took place in 45 Australian cities on Friday, were a reaction to a new project announced the previous day to build a major gas-fired power station in Currie Currie, 150 km north of Sydney. The plant, costing more than A$600 million ($465.3 million), according to authorities, is expected to make up for the loss of capacity in the country’s east coast energy system following the shutdown of coal-fired power stations currently supplying several major cities in the region.
Protesters demanded the government urgently stop all coal, oil and gas projects, switch to renewable energy by 2030 and stop fossil fuel extraction and export. The rally was supported by the Australian Green Party, Indigenous community leaders and more than 150 Australian businesses and organisations.
Organizers estimate that at least 5,000 people in Sydney joined the action, despite the rainy weather in the metropolis, as they marched through the city’s main streets.