“Climate justice doesn’t come without First Nations justice,” Ian Brown told a 200-strong rally on February 20 organised by the Australian Student Environment Network and Workers For Climate Action.
“We want climate justice for all Indigenous people and for all people in this country and elsewhere,” he said.
Brown is a Sydney-based Gomeroi activist, from Gamilaraay Next Generation - a grassroots collective of Gomeroi/Gamilaraay youth.
It was formed to fight the first stage of Santos’ disastrous Narrabri Gas Project. It is calling for a halt to the destruction of Gomeroi country and a just transition to publicly-owned renewable energy.
Sarah Ellyard, a nurse and member of the 70,00-strong NSW Nurses and Midwives Association Climate Change Action Reference Group, told the protest that her organisation was opposed to coal seam gas because of the damage it causes to First Nations’ peoples rights and public health.
The protest opposed the federal government’s gas-fired recovery plans, an immediate and just transition away from all fossil fuel projects and for 100% renewable energy.