Quiet Australians Stand Up

The Biden administration has been in office less than a week but is already taking significant action on climate change.John Kerry, Biden’s Climate Envoy, has spoken out on some harsh truths. He has warned that under current Paris commitments, we will experience 3.7 degrees of warming, far above the targetted 1.5-2 degrees, and so every country must increase their targets as the Paris Agreement requires. Secondly, he has warned that the 2019-20 Australian bushfires were a warning that we are losing the war against climate change. And thirdly, he has warned that expansion of gas infrastructure is dangerous and ill-informed. In one speech, one week into the job, Kerry has stated three inescapable truths that our own federal government refuse to say.

Source: https://www.smh.com.au/…/stop-us-in-our-tracks-biden-s…

As 2020 drags to a close, we would like to thank everyone for their engagement with Quiet Australians Stand Up. Thanks for helping with leaflet drops, signing petitions, writing submissions and attending our silent vigils. There has been some slight forward movement with Scott Morrison at least announcing that we’ll drop the Kyoto carry-over credits. Much to do next year.. sounds like there might be an election! Wishing everyone a safe and healthy festive season. We will be back in January. Here is an apt cartoon.

Only 1 week until our next silent vigil.

Not surprisingly, PM Scott Morrison did not get one of the 70 speaking slots at this weekend’s UN Climate Summit.  The government can try to hoodwink the Australian public into believing it has a feasible climate policy, but the grown-ups have worked out that dropping the Kyoto carryover credits (i.e. not cheating) is NOT a climate policy.

Please attend the vigil to demand that Dave Sharma advocates for a net-zero emission target by 2050 as recommended by the UN to keep global warming between 1.5 and 2 degrees Celsius.

Please bring

• Mobile phone for QR code sign-in; written sign in also available
• Hand sanitiser
• A placard: e.g. we support/demand net-zero by 2050. Last time we got lots of response to “HONK for climate action” signs!

Look forward to seeing you there.

https://www.smh.com.au/world/europe/un-defends-excluding-morrison-from-climate-summit-canberra-livid-with-johnson-over-snub-20201211-p56mk7.html

So far this week the following people and organisations have urged the Australian Government to commit to net-zero emissions by 2050:

• Alok Sharma – Britain’s secretary of state and president of next year’s UN COP26 conference
• Christina Figueres – former executive secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change 
• Warren Entsch  – Liberal MP for Leichardt, North Queensland, and special envoy for the Great Barrier Reef
• Malcolm Turnbull – former PM

Ultimately, though, politicians must listen to their constituents or risk losing their seats.

To this end, we will be holding another silent vigil outside Dave Sharma’s office on Saturday 19 December 9.30 -10.30 am.

We would encourage groups in other electorates (Liberal or Labor) to do the same and invite you to contact us for a quick guide on how to do this. You can email us on quietaustraliansstandup@gmail.com for help with police permission, covid-safety plan, QR code and advertising material.

In the AFR, our own Dave Sharma MP, “modern” liberal and self-professed climate action enthusiast has written an opinion piece in which he talks up the success of Australia’s climate action to date and the Technology Roadmap.

In line with LNP policy he says we will seek to reach net-zero emissions as soon as possible. No gaol, no plan.

So why not set a zero-emissions target of “NO LATER than 2050”?

https://www.afr.com/policy/energy-and-climate/why-rudd-is-wrong-about-australia-s-climate-isolation-20201126-p56i2g?fbclid=IwAR0pB8acMtgwLE2c4gYXFVcq9Th0_4Z3KEZxnNoMwajso9fDrIlOJWFsMfk

It is pleasing to see that the NSW Government has passed The Energy Infrastructure Bill which will lead to huge emissions reductions by 2030. Well done Matt Kean!

Meanwhile, back in Federal Parliament, there is still no plan.

The Climate Bill provides a plan. If you have not already done so, please send in your submission before 5pm Friday and ask your local member to advocate for a conscience vote and to support the act.

https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/landmark-nsw-energy-bill-passes-after-more-than-30-hours-of-debate-20201125-p56hz1.html?fbclid=IwAR1Kedk7rnnQxvg41dvG3OyfWbvgnx4iOGFXhvgxmr1L-66_27xLLck8wXE

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/nov/25/the-morrison-government-has-abrogated-responsibility-for-the-climate-crisis-to-the-states?utm_term=7a9a87d1f497c9ae700c76764bcfc98d&utm_campaign=BestOfGuardianOpinionAUS&utm_source=esp&utm_medium=Email&CMP=opinionau_email&fbclid=IwAR1ArimmESzKTWVt5z6QCSxJ1TOL_y60-K5OG5oNtLDs-T2fawDB2ztzQ8M

The opportunity to send submissions to the House Standing Committee to support the Climate Bill ends this Friday 27 November.

Here are 2 samples of submissions to give you some ideas. Just click on the links below. Your submission does not have to be long. The more individual submissions that are lodged, the better.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1TohbHK_118kdagfSIbRJnW6C0m98YfI3/view?usp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1oOD_-9xe1QNriKQvjHU4UmD7_kYESiYw/view?usp=sharing

Last night we attended an on-line session to help with writing a submission to support the Climate Change Bill. It was extremely helpful and we would commend it to you ( link below). The more individual submissions, the better. Your submission does not need to be long but should include things that are relevant to you and reference the key elements of the Bill. There is an excellent summary of these in the submission writing guidelines for your information. Over the next couple of days we will post some of our submissions which we hope will inspire you to write your own. https://drive.google.com/…/1LmDpEJGdwVtm9fXk7nP…/view…

Dave Sharma MP has previously said we need to hold off setting emissions targets so we can ‘leverage’ other countries to set targets. The evidence strongly suggests that hasn’t worked and Australia is now quickly becoming a global outlier – it’s time to support the Climate Act, set a net-zero target, and start taking real climate action.

Thank you all to Quiet Australians who showed up on Saturday morning at Dave Sharma MP ‘s office in Edgecliff! While the event was a silent vigil, many of the passing cars were honking loudly in support of our Climate Act placards! With 68% of all Australians now supporting a net-zero by 2050 target, we’re not surprised at the reaction.