Here’s what Nannas have been doing leading up to the Rising Tide Protestival. The Minns government has spent the last couple of weeks trying to stop the event by opposing a Police Form 1 and putting in place a marine exclusion zone. Rising Tide organisers made a last minute appeal in the Supreme Court and the closure of the harbour was disallowed.
Justice Sarah McNaughton accepted the arguments put forward by Rising Tide that the four-day marine exclusion zone was an improper use of a section of the Marine Safety Act, which was intended to ensure special events proceed safely – not to prevent them from taking place.
Now waiting to see if the Harbour Master will close the shipping channel. Police are putting out buoys and if kayakers leave that area they will be subject to protest laws.
Snap Action at Minister for Transport office
A snap action was called by Rising Tide for Wednesday morning at the office of the NSW Transport Minister’s office in Marrickville. About 60 of Jo Haylen’s constituents signed a letter to her about her decision to declare an Exclusion Zone in Newcastle Harbour from Thursday 21 November to Monday 25 November. People in her electorate were angry about this decision as were the people of Newcastle because the harbour and the neighbouring beaches were to be completely off limits to the public for four days. Rising Tide organisers have made a last minute appeal against the exclusion zone in the Supreme Court.
Nannas are heading to Newcastle
Nannas are heading off to Newcastle because we feel a duty to tell the truth about coal and the climate emergency.
Weather forecast: sunny days!
Visit to Albo’s office
Before the ACF Community Forum in Marrickville last week, Martin Prichard of Environs Kimberley dropped in to the Prime Minister electoral office with a message calling on him to stop fracking the NT. Albo’s staff refused to take a message because Martin isn’t a constituent. So the next morning a bunch of constituents, including Nannas, delivered Martin’s message and explained our reasons to the staff.
For All Earthkind Phase #2 Event – Tomorrow’s Sun
Four Sydney Knitting Nannas, children and adult choirs, and the Australian Youth Orchestra came together at Walsh Bay on November 6 to record the song Tomorrow’s Sun. A simultaneous community performance was held in Melbourne. The song tells the story of the Black Summer Fires and remembers the 3 billion animal lives lost. It screened in the Children & Youth Pavilion at COP29. For more information: www.4allek.org
Nature Conservation Council Conference
The Nature Conservation Council held their annual conference on 16 November at the amazing new Greenhouse Climate Tech Hub near Circular Quay. Three Nannas attended and joined in workshops about renewable energy, forests, water resources and fixing our broken planning system.
It was great for catching up with friends and also for learning from people on the front lines about campaigns for nature and the climate in NSW regions. There were also wake-up calls about the political context we’re in now. Sue Higginson of the Greens delivered an urgent call to action on our native forests, calling out the government’s failure to stop logging.
Later in the day Environment Minister Penny Sharpe told us not to expect an end to native forest logging any time soon. The Minister encouraged the environment movement to work with her wherever we can. Nannas can see that environmentalists do that all the time – usually while pushing for more haste.
On native forest logging, it’s about keeping up the fight, which is a constant struggle against the government and Forestry Corporation. The urgency is driven by threats to endangered species and to our climate. Minister please note: we will never give up.
A panel discussion on how the movement for nature can reach out to more communities had helpful lessons drawing on the experience of groups in Western Sydney.
In conference workshops we heard from community members about the New England Renewable Energy Zone and practised conversations with people who are interested but doubtful about the switch to renewable energy.
The workshop on urban planning heard from Elizabeth Farrelly about the Better Cities project. This advocates medium density, diverse populations, green spaces, walkable cities with community engagement, including citizen panels.
There was also discussion of the NSW government’s drastic changes to the planning laws which are due to come into effect early next year. The changes will see local government side-stepped with the introduction of planning shortcuts with authority centred with a new state body, the Housing Delivery Authority (HDA) within the Department of Planning.
The workshop on water resources focused on the threat of a gold mining project next to the Macquarie Marshes, and the NCC campaigns for the Murray Darling Basin and coastal rivers and wetlands. The need for more concerted action to restore north coast wetlands is the topic of a new video by NCC.
There’s more information on the NCC website and for more on what works for cities see Better Cities.
Climate Council’s Under Pressure Report
Australia has entered the ‘era of climate consequences’, with the vast majority of Australian households already impacted by climate change. Climate pollution from the burning of coal, oil and gas is fuelling increasingly severe bushfires, floods, heatwaves and destructive storms. As a result, the overwhelming majority (84%) of Australians report being directly affected by at least one climate-fuelled disaster since 2019. (Climate Council report)
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