Australian Quakers join multi-faith call to Government to take the climate crisis seriously.  

On 13 October an open letter to Prime Minister Albanese from senior faith leaders both from Australia and the Pacific, was published in major newspapers. Australia Yearly Meeting is one of the signatories to this Open Letter.

The Open Letter reads: 

Dear Prime Minister Albanese,

We are grateful for your Government’s efforts to take the climate crisis seriously. Yet Australia is a wealthy country that profits from exports that are causing the crisis. We hear the cries of anguish from those most vulnerable in the human family who are losing their lives, livelihoods and homes through climate-fuelled disasters.

We humbly and respectfully request that Australia:

• Stops approving new coal and gas projects
• Ends public subsidies for coal and gas projects
• Fully respects First Nations peoples’ rights to protect Country
• Re-starts contributions to the United Nations Green Climate Fund
• Assists extractive industry workers to prosper through jobs in sustainable industries
• Actively participates in creating and endorses a Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty.

The current level of warming is not safe. This moment in history calls for an urgent, courageous, visionary response, especially from those in power. Australia’s leadership in this response, as part of its First Nations Foreign Policy, is vital for the vulnerable communities and ecosystems who depend on it.

To read the full list of signatories go HERE.

In support of this open letter, multi-faith services were held across Australia and in the Pacific region. These actions will be part of a month of actions by communities of faith around the world as part of the lead-up to the UN’s COP 27 climate negotiations in November called Faiths 4 Climate Justice (F4CJ). Last year there were more than 500 F4CJ multi faith protest actions in 40 countries. All around the world this October people of faith will be calling for a Fossil Fuel Non- Proliferation Treaty.

Image: Rev James Bhagwan and friends in Fiji for Faiths 4 Climate Justice 2021.