While in Canberra a National Disaster Preparedness summit ran through a bushfire Stress test, here in Merri-bek some citizens gathered outside Wills MP Peter Khalil’s electoral office on Sydney Road, Coburg looking to tackle the root cause of global warming, the fossil fuels driving increasing heatwaves, extreme heat, flood disasters and increasing catastrophic bushfire disasters.

We called for Peter Khalil to lobby in caucus and in parliament for strong climate action and support the basic moderate demands of the Bushfire Survivors for Climate Action. We handed out leaflets to constituents asking them to scan a QR code that would take them to the current petition with the Bushfire Survivors for Climate Action 3 demands:

• Pause new coal and gas approvals, including expansions, until Labor’s promised environmental reforms and the new EPA are in place.
• Ensure a climate trigger is included in the EPBC reforms, requiring thorough assessment of all such projects against their impact on climate.
• Take responsibility for progressing all 80 recommendations of the Bushfires Royal Commission, for coordination and monitoring of all measures, and facilitating faster implementation across federal and state/territory jurisdictions.

You can sign the BSCA petition here: https://www.bushfiresurvivors.org/petition-pauseapprovalsepa

A hard copy letter was handed to his electorate staff and also a digital copy emailed later. (see below) . This letter outlines:

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese initially proposed a Climate Trigger for the EPBC Act in 2005. (Note 1) Labor failed to legislate this during 2007-2013, or bring it forward in the present parliament.

The Australian Environment Minister has approved 10 Fossil Fuel projects since May 2022. Note 2)

The emissions from burning this coal and gas will exacerbate global warming when the science and IEA say we have enough fossil fuels already in production to cook the planet. (Note 3)

References:

Note 1: For A Albanese 2005 bill See APH archive: https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Bills_Legislation/Bills_Search_Results/Result?bId=r2416

Note 2: For the list of fossil fuel projects approved or allowed to proceed since May 2022 see Callum Foote, Michael West publishing, 8 September 2023, Ten and rising: Albanese government new fossil fuel approvals unveiled https://michaelwest.com.au/ten-and-rising-albanese-government-new-fossil-fuel-approvals-unveiled/

Note 3: The International Energy Agency 2021 report, Net Zero by 2050 – A Roadmap for the Global Energy Sector, https://www.iea.org/reports/net-zero-by-2050
Welsby, D., Price, J., Pye, S. et al. Unextractable fossil fuels in a 1.5 °C world. Nature 597, 230–234 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-021-03821-8, https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-021-03821-8
Nogrady, Bianca, Nature, 8 September 2021, Most fossil-fuel reserves must remain untapped to hit 1.5 °C warming goal https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-02444-3
Kelly Trout et al (17 May 2022), Existing fossil fuel extraction would warm the world beyond 1.5 °C , Environ. Res. Lett. 17 064010, DOI 10.1088/1748-9326/ac6228, https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/ac6228

The leaflet handed to people requesting them to sign the Bushfire Survivors for Climate Action petition with the specific and moderate climate actions called for: