“Community mobilises on climate”: Report from a community meeting about climate and politics held at the Geelong West Town Hall on 9 May 2024
The meeting at Geelong West Town Hall on 9 May 2024 covered ways by which we can reach out to our local Canberra representatives to demand that they reduce new gas and coal developments.
Geelong people met as the very climate concerned and on the very same day, a total shock, a climate bomb was delivered by our government in Canberra: the so-called ‘Future Gas Strategy’.
The meeting was joined by concerned community members along with three Geelong Councillors plus one State Parliamentarian. The 60 attendees heard of the possibility that locally a startup may happen with a ‘Voices of..’ campaign.
The Geelong Independent covered the meeting with an article on top of page 3 in its 17 May edition:
Community mobilises on climate
The Geelong community came together last week for a town meeting to discuss how to get their government representatives to listen to their concerns about climate change.
A range of community groups worried about the lack of government action around climate change gathered at Geelong West Town Hall to hear from a range of speakers and take part in workshop activities on Thursday, May 9.
Speakers on the night included Sue Barrett, the strategist behind Independent MP Zoe Daniel’s remarkable 2022 election campaign in the electorate of Goldstein, governance scholar and founding member of CoolGeelong Dr Jeanne Nel and co-founder of A Different Approach Community (ADAC) and Letition.org Robert Patterson.
Attendees heard speakers present a range of topics centered around engaging with elected officials on climate change and holding them accountable for their decision-making processes.
They also watched a recorded video message from ACT senator David Pocock and participated in a workshop on the use of Letitions, prewritten letters to members of parliament formatted and ready for use at Letition.org on a range of environmental issues.
The community resolved to meet again at Beav’s Bar on Thursday, May 23 at 5 pm, with all members of the public invited.
While federal members Richard Marles and Libby Coker were invited months ago to attend the meeting last week, they declined.
Geelong councillors Elise Wilkinson, Jim Mason and Peter Murrihy were in attendance, as was Greens MLC Dr Sarah Mansfield.
Dr Nel said the energy at the meeting was palpable.
“Thursday was a great day to have the meeting, given that the gas strategy was published,” she said. “People in the room were excited, passionate, and felt very strongly that we need responsible, environmentally sensitive decision-making that’s not driven by power blocs, but driven by what is good for every community, what is good for future generations, what’s good for the environment.”
She said it was disappointing that Mr Marles and Ms Coker did not attend the meeting, despite advanced notice.
“There’s a level of despondence… we are their voters, their constituents, their electorate, and we just cannot get them to speak to us,” Dr Nel said.
“There are many people in Geelong that are very, very concerned about the decisions being made about the environment, and it’s really important that our representatives take note of that.”
This article was published in Geelong Independent on 17 May 2024
COMMUNITY MEETING ABOUT CLIMATE AND POLITICS
Keynote speaker Sue Barrett was the campaign manager for Zoe Daniels MP, and she described what happened behind the scenes in the lead up to Zoe’s success in becoming Goldstein’s Independent MP in Canberra.
“We ended up with 1,500 volunteers, and as you know, we actually won. It was an incredible experience. But it doesn’t happen by accident,” Sue told the attendees.
“Now, I’m not suggesting you have to run a community backed, independent candidate for your seats here in Geelong. However, you do need to get actual activation around something to make sure these politicians pay attention to us.”
94 per cent of attendees who replied to a slido poll were in support of the idea to start a local ‘Voices of’ group in Geelong.
→ See the video recording of Sue Barrett’s 15-minute speech
→ Transcript of Sue Barrett’s speech
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Mik Aidt from Centre for Climate Safety set the scene by discussing the political and media landscape surrounding climate activism in Australia. He highlighted the fractured nature of the climate movement and the lack of visible impact on reducing carbon emissions. The graphs for global fossil fuel consumption and contration of greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere keep going up, when they should be going down.
Mik also touched on the increasing climate-related disasters and their impact on food security and our general health and safety. The collapse of societies after they have been hit by destructive weather events – and the rise of armed gangs as a result – is no longer a future climate scenario – it is now happening in real time, for instance in places like Haiti. Mik emphasised the urgent need for structural change in society, and the role of politics in that regard, as well as the disappointment with the current government’s lack of actions on climate. He also warned that voter apathy and election misinformation could become serious threats against any meaningful climate legislation in Parliament.
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Dr Jeanne Nel, quoting Wendell Berry, highlighted our shared bond with the Earth and stressed the importance of independent, unfettered climate-oriented decision-making at every level of government. At a local level, Jeanne called on the audience to use their power as voting residents to ensure that our local council make decisions to preserve and grow our urban tree canopy to secure Geelong’s future liveability. Trees are crucial in combating climate change – they absorb carbon, cool our city, purify the air, control flooding, and provide food. It’s imperative we do everything possible to prevent the reduction of our tree canopy.
Jeanne concluded with a brief explanation of how the Letition system is an effective tool in influencing local, council, and federal government actions. It is a powerful individualised, direct approach that reminds our representatives – local councillors, state and federal MP or senators – that the voters in their backyards, their electorates, care and that we are holding them accountable. There is power in numbers. Collectively, each Letition contributes to a significant volume of correspondence that cannot be overlooked by our elected officials. “United, we wield considerable influence,” she said.
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Jenna Wade spoke of her environmental advocacy work for Friends of Cowies Creek in Norlane and the importance of local community involvement in local climate advocacy projects. Jenna also believes much can be gained through collaboration with industry, council and local community groups to create change.
Her motivation is made even stronger by her drive to protect the future for her young family and her local Geelong environment, especially the waterways.
Jenna said she will continue sending her monthly Letitions along with so many others as they all send a very strong message to the local Geelong MP’s that we want climate action now.
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In the Letition workshop element of the evening, initially only a few were familiar with the system. By the end of the workshop everyone knew about the power of the community. Robert Patterson explained that by coming together and all sending Letitions, the climate action message can be spread to all Federal Parliamentarians.
He pointed out that if 5 to 15 people rally outside Parliamentary offices then the 80 people unable to attend (due to busy lives) can participate by all sending Letitions on for example, the ‘Duty of Care Bill’ and now the ‘Stop the Gas Strategy’. As Letitions arrive at Parliamentarians offices, pressure is applied. As a result of everyone sending these very strong messages, the system will continue to grow with more people ready for the next parallel campaign by any climate group who wishes to use the Letition system.
Independent Senator David Pocock’s 2 minute video message on his Duty of Care Bill
In this video message for the participants at the Geelong West Town Hall meeting, David explains how the Duty of Care bill could safe guard children now and all future children, arriving into this beautiful world.
Read the Duty of Care Letition from March 2024 – and generate it to send to your Local MP here.
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Jenna Wade and Tony Gleeson were the meeting facilitators.
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What’s next?
The Geelong meeting was successful with the next planning meeting at Beav’s Bar in Geelong on 23rd of May.
Please join in this Geelong adventure, by attending in person or via Zoom at 5:00pm
To receive the Zoom link, send an email to info@letition.org and you will be able to register and receive the link on beforehand.
To attend the meeting at Beav’s Bar, RSVP and join Voices of Corangamite.
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Friday 21 June 2024 at 6:30pm to Saturday 22 June at 5:00pm AEST