Greens leader says Albanese government is ‘hellbent on opening more coal and gas mines’ and people must ‘fight back’
The Australian Greens leader, Adam Bandt, has called on people to join disruptive climate protests to pressure the Albanese government to stop opening new fossil fuel mines, saying he plans to help blockade the country’s largest coal port.
He has also written to the leaders of 16 Pacific Island nations suggesting they should make any support for an Australia bid to host a UN climate summit conditional on the government “taking stronger climate action”.
Speaking to climate activists in Melbourne on Wednesday night, Bandt said Labor was “hellbent on opening more coal and gas mines”.
He said more people needed to “get in behind” groups that engaged in nonviolent civil disobedience, naming Disrupt Burrup Hub, Rising Tide and Extinction Rebellion.
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“The Liberals and Nationals were kicked out of office for thumbing their nose at the climate crisis … but with Labor it’s somehow more disappointing because you know they know what they’re doing is wrong,” he said, according to speech extracts shared in advance.
“Some Labor MPs might not get into politics to help out [oil and gas company] Woodside, but sure enough they end up there.
“Now we need to embrace the importance of protest and civil disobedience. We must come together and fight back.”
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Bandt said the “law is often complex, but the morality is simple”.
“We might not all want to climb a coal bridge or sit in the foyer of Woodside, but we need to back the right of people to do so, and celebrate and feel joy from their action,” he said.
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Author: dizzy
Adam Bandt urges Australians to ‘embrace’ civil disobedience and join climate protests
Adam Bandt, leader of the Australian Greens on the right to protest. Video is 3 months old. RSPB chief apologises after charity calls ministers ‘liars’ over green policy
Screenshot of RSPB X (previously Twitter) posting accusing ministers of lying over protecting water quality protections when they were reduced by UK government. Beccy Speight says frustration at ‘weaker protections’ prompted criticism of Sunak, Gove and Coffey
The head of the RSPB has apologised after the wildlife charity called Rishi Sunak and other ministers “liars” in a social media post.
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“The reason that we issued our apology is that we do believe that the nature of public discourse does matter and that we have a role to play in that, and that we campaign on policy, not on people.
“So, the framing of that tweet, where we called out individual people, we felt was incorrect and inappropriate, and we apologise for that.”
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*Royal Society for the Protection of Birds
Giant banner dropped at Labour Party HQ to protest Starmer’s position on PR
Led by Donkeys remind Keir Starmer of his commitment to proportional representation. Campaigners have draped a giant banner outside the headquarters of the Labour Party to ‘remind Keir Starmer what he once said about proportional representation.’ Led By Donkeys – a group which specialises in creative and high profile political stunts – organised the action.
The group installed a banner with a photo of Keir Starmer and a quote of comments he made during the Labour leadership election. The banner quoted Starmer as saying in February 2020: “…millions of people vote in safe seats and they feel their voice doesn’t count. That’s got to be addressed by electoral reform.”
Led by Donkeys shared a video of their banner drop on Twitter, and said: “We’ve scaled the scaffolding at Labour’s London HQ to remind Keir Starmer what he once said about proportional representation.”
Sir Keir Starmer has since distanced himself from his 2020 comments on electoral reform.
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Rugby World Cup threatens legal action over Greenpeace protest video
The climate campaigners’ video flooded the Stade de France with oil in protest of TotalEnergies’ sponsorship of the Rugby World Cup – now it’s facing backlash.
In a letter seen by The Drum, a representative from Rugby World Cup Limited (RWCL) contacted Greenpeace regarding the video ‘Total Pollution: A Dirty Game,’ which utilizes a number of RWCL’s registered trademarks, including the Rugby World Cup and Rugby World Cup France 2023 logos, as well as the trademarks and logos of its member unions and commercial partners of the tournament.
“Your use of the RWCL IP has not been authorized by RWCL and/or the relevant commercial partner or member unions and therefore infringes RWCL’s and their intellectual property rights,” it reads.
It goes on to order that “in order to avoid the need for formal legal proceedings,” Greenpeace should “immediately cease and desist” on the grounds that the intellectual property of RWCL has been used without authorization and that, if Greenpeace wishes to avoid legal proceedings, it should remove the video and “refrain from any such use again in the future.”
A spokesperson from RWCL told The Drum it is not currently pursuing legal action but said: “There is guidance around the use of Rugby World Cup IP, which Greenpeace could have sought. This can be rectified.”
They added: “The France 2023 organizing committee reached out to engage with leading campaign groups and NGOs on shaping the tournament’s sustainability program. Greenpeace was the only one to decline.”
But Greenpeace maintains that its use of RWCL trademarks in the video is perfectly lawful, writing in its response to RWCL: “You state no legal basis for the demands issued to us and we fail to see that such a basis exists.”
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