Media release – Extinction Rebellion, 12 November 2021
Take to the streets
Rebelling against extinction
Extinction Rebellion will take to the streets again on Saturday 13th, starting 10 am at Civic Square, Launceston.
Australia at COP26 was pathetic. We know what to do: divert subsidies from fossil fuels, allow no new coal mines or gas projects, clamp down on methane emissions and put an end to native forest logging. These aren’t optional extras, they must be done.
The government is still refusing to tell the truth, still failing on realistic reduction targets and still ignoring the voice of its citizens.
BACKGROUND TO STREET ACTION
As local man Steve Saunders wrote in The Examiner letters on Friday 12th Nov, “XR works to maximise their message to the public and do not deliberately inconvenience the police for the sake of doing so. XR respects the police for doing their job and protests peacefully. For example, only one policeperson was needed to end the first protest on 3rd Nov, arresting two people.”
WHY THE ANGER?
According to Simon Holmes à Court, Senior advisor, Climate and Energy College, The University of Melbourne writing in The Conversation, “the Morrison government’s technology-driven net-zero ‘plan’ contains no concrete measures to end this fossil fuel addiction. It’s more a placeholder than a strategy, fulfilling the government’s need to have a document to wave around. Meanwhile, the government seems intent on sitting back and letting the future happen, rather than creating it….. it’s not technology per se that reduces emissions, it’s deploying it.”
Media release – Extinction Rebellion South Australia, 12 November 2021
EXTINCTION REBELLION DUMPS SHIT AT OFFICE OF FEDERAL FINANCE MINISTER SIMON BIRMINGHAM AFTER FAILED COP26 SUMMIT
Happening now: Extinction Rebellion activists have dumped an enormous pile of shit at the office of Federal Finance Minister Simon Birmingham, 107 Sir Donald Bradman Drive, Hilton.
Extinction Rebellion’s message is simple: the COP26 climate summit was bullshit, and Australia’s contribution stunk most of all. Not only did the Morrison Government take a weak, non-binding ‘plan’ with no new policies or mandates, it also refused to sign global pledges aimed at limiting methane emissions and phasing out fossil fuel production. Instead, the government continued to spruik coal and gas, with the major carbon polluter Santos taking centre stage at Australia’s pavilion in Glasgow.
While dozens of countries signed up to ambitious climate action, the government is considering more than 100 new coal and gas projects that could result in nearly 1.7 billion tonnes of greenhouse gases a year. This is a direct threat to the health and wellbeing of future generations, as well as Australia’s millions of animal species. Glasgow was a shitshow, but entirely in keeping with a government that cares more about protecting the interests of fossil fuel companies than it does about taking action to ensure a liveable climate for all of us.
Spokesperson Ben Brooker said:
“Australia has once again shown itself to be a climate pariah, this time with the whole world watching. The government’s net-zero target is pure spin designed to shore up its re-election chances rather than meaningfully address the climate crisis. Its ‘plan’, which contains no changes to exisiting policies, isn’t worth the paper it’s written on.
At COP, UN chief António Guterres warned that by failing to end our addiction to fossil fuels ‘we are digging our own graves’ through unsustainable global heating. He added that we had to stop ‘treating nature like a toilet’. By continuing to do so, while shamelessly flaunting its ties with climate criminals like Santos, Woodside, and Origin, the government shows that it doesn’t take climate action seriously despite the vast majority of Australians wanting it to. We will continue to hold them to account until they end the bullshit and act as most Australians expect now.”
