By Steph Harmon / Junkee
An estimated total of 60,000 rallied in every capital city and over 130 towns and regional centres around Australia, for the National Day of Climate Action hosted by GetUp!, the Australian Youth Climate Coalition and the Australian Conservation Foundation.
There were 2000 in Canberra, addressed by Greens MLA Shane Rattenbury and the ACT secretary of the United Firefighters Union, David Livingstone.
There were 4000 in Brisbane, who heard from Greens leader Christine Milne and firefighter Dean McNulty. McNulty spoke of the massive risk that climate change poses to Australia’s landscape and his colleagues.
There were 10,000 in (an exceptionally damp, eventually rained out) Sydney, who were addressed by deputy federal opposition leader Tanya Plibersek, warning that “Australia is going backwards while the rest of the world is going forwards.”
And a massive 30,000 turned out in Melbourne, who heard from the Climate Commission’s Tim Flannery and Greens deputy leader Adam Bandt. Bandt linked global warning to super typhoons like Haiyan, which killed an estimated 4460 people in the Philippines this month.
The federal government wants a vote to repeal the carbon tax in the Senate before July. Its mandate to do so is questionable at best.
