My name is Lily Maddon and I'm a proud Arunda Bungelung Calcottin woman from Gadighl Country. The Daily oz acknowledges that this podcast is recorded on the lands of the Gadighl people and pays respect to all Aboriginal and torrest Right island and nations. We pay our respects to the first peoples of these countries, both past and present.
Good morning and welcome to the Daily os It's Friday, the seventeenth of November. I'm Emma Gillespie.
I'm beliefit Simon's climate change is here.
It is terrifying and it is just the beginning.
This fire emergency has been raging since Monday.
Flight evacuations continued into the night across the Gippsland region.
Today, thousands of young people are expected to skip school to strike for climate action. If we don't stand up against these politicians who will not listen, if we don't make them, I guess our future doesn't look as good.
If we continue on the trajectory that we are on. The precious places, landscapes, animals and plans that we think of when we think of home may not be here for our kids and grandkids.
The Schools Strike for Climate has been gaining momentum in recent years and has become a national day of action from some of the country's youngest activists.
We'll have more on who's protesting and where, what they're calling for, and what the government has to say about it in today's Deep Dive. But first, really an update on the Commonwealth Games.
Yes, Australia has been warned it has three months to find a state to host the twenty twenty six Commonwealth Games before the common Game's Federation seeks out other options. It comes after former Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews pulled out of his state's commitment to host, citing budget concerns earlier this year. The Federation says there are three other regions that have signaled interest in hosting the next Commonwealth Games, but it did not name those regions.
The Federal Transport Minister Catherine King has acted fifty rail and road projects across the country after an independent review found costs were expected to blow out by thirty three billion dollars. These projects include commuter car parks, motorway interchanges, and road upgrades in regional areas. The state where the most projects are being canceled is New South Wales, but the NT is the only jurisdiction to have no infrastructural projects cut.
Australian tennis player Nick Kirios has said the stars would have to align a little bit if he was to make a successful comeback to tennis. Once ranked thirteenth in the world, Kurios is now unranked after knee surgery and a torn ligament in his right wrist.
And the good news, Coles has announced its quiet Hour is expanding to weekday evenings. Coals stores around the nation will turn down the cash register sounds, play music on the low hot volume, and only use the PA system in emergencies from Monday to Friday six pm to seven pm. Quiet Our aims to make the supermarket more accessible for customers who might experience anxiety or stress in loud environments. Thousands of students across Australia are going on strike today
for stronger climate action. And it's not just kids who are calling for change. Climate scientists, doctors, experts, teachers and parents have also thrown their weight behind these rallies to show their support for young people participating in school strike for climate.
Now today we are going to hear from one of those students who are taking part in this action. But before we get into that, can you just explain who or what is School Strike for Climate.
Yes, so this is a group of student activists protest organizers known as School Strike for Climate, and at the heart of their activism are calls for the federal government to move away from fossil fuels. So school Strike for Climate are pushing for an end for colon gas projects. And this is a national collective, so we're talking about student activists from all over the country, so you can expect to see protests in plenty of the major capital
cities and in the regions. But as I mentioned earlier, the group has support from multiple Australian climate scientists and experts.
You might have seen this week that Ossie climate scientists actually shared a downloadable version of a doctor's certificate for students to send to their schools today, because obviously, if you're a school student participating in a protest on a school day, you're not in class, and the certificate says that the student can't attend class because of a major climate health concern, with lists of symptoms like increased anxiety, elevated stress and feelings of despair.
Now, Emma, you interviewed a high school student about today. Who did you speak to?
So you're going to hear from Minn Park who actually spoke to us from her school to talk about today's action, which is the only time TDA has ever endorsed phones at school. Min is heading to the protests in Sydney and she's a spokesperson for this year's school strike for climate Hello, min, thank you so much for making time with us. Welcome to the podcast. What is the point of today's action?
Well, school strike is all about empowering young people to take action for climate justice while because we are going to be bearing the brunch of the climate crisis if we don't address the problem. And I think the action today is mainly due to the government's in action and the government's complacency with doing nothing while actively making the situation work, such as approving more projects, because we recognize that the climate crisis is here right now and it's affecting all of us.
And we have a responsibility to do something about it.
Now I'm in Sydney. There's a rally happening down the road from where I'm sitting right now. What is the scale of today's protests, how many students are striking and where are they striking.
We're expecting around three thousand people last time we checked, but there has been a lot of media coverage, so we're expecting a bit more than that. And we're going to be marching down to Tanya Pliparsex office because Tanya is the Environment Minister and while she should be doing something to protect the environment, it is in our hands right now and that's unacceptable.
We've seen in the news this week these doctor's certificates and climate experts who came together and wrote these doctor's certificates to kind of give protesting students permission to be there today. What's your experience been like obviously you're not at school today. How have you been supported in that?
Well, the climate doctor certificates we're mainly designed to give students the confidence of coming out to the strike, to give them assurance that there are people like them, There are experts that are supporting this idea that the climate. We are in a climate crisis right now and it is really becoming worse.
How do you feel when you look at the cause of the climate strikes? School students you're a teenager yourself and you're marching for action by decision makers who are much older than you. What's that experience been like.
Well, honestly, it's very frustrating that we even have to go out on the street and skip school to tell the government that they're not doing their job right. It shouldn't be our responsibility to take care of the environment and or like make policies or encourage policies that stand up.
That should be the government doing that. The government should be addressing all these issues.
But it is very frustrating that we have to come out here again and again, like this is I think the fifth year that we've done this, and it's very frustrating that policymakers still have not changed their stance on this and are continuously greenwashing.
Have you got schoolmates friends you all going together? How do your parents feel about this? And has your school said that it's okay?
My school that I'm going to right now?
As a public school, they can't be supportive, But I think my school community is quite supportive. There are my friends are coming to the strike and there are going to be a lot of people. There are also a lot of people from school strikes that are organizing it, that are also coming, so it's quite a large community that are coming with us, and my parents are quite supportive as well, so that's really good for me.
Obviously, we're talking about long term goals here, but what does student advocates really want to get out of today's action.
That's a great question. The main thing we want to get out.
Of this strike is that the government stops approving of new calling gas projects.
We think that's the most important thing.
That's the thing we really want to achieve by the end of the strike, and we really hope that government.
After the strike will listen to us.
We'll listen to young people, Indigenous communities and even our.
Pacific neighbors who are leaders in the.
Movement of turning renewables stop funding colin gas.
So I think that's the main idea.
You've expressed some frustration disappointment in the government and leadership around climate, but as you mentioned, this is a protest that's been going for a few years now. Does that make you feel hopeful about the future that we have so many young people invested in making change in this space.
Yeah, I think it's empowering just to be organizing the strike even because it's really important that young people's voices are being heard and that we have this community of people who are passionate about climate justice and that we stop the government from just being able to greenwash us and doing whatever they want to destroy the planet.
Well, thank you so much for making time to come on this podcast. I know, apart from being involved in this action, you are also a school student. You're also juggling all the pressures that come with that and life as a teenager. So we really appreciate you making time for us.
Oh good, thank you.
Now, obviously these young people are really passionate about this issue, Billy, but I also did want us to talk about the government's response to the strikes.
Yees, So the whole strike is trying to change what the government is doing. So have we heard anything from the government.
Yes, So the Daily I was reached out to Tanya Plibersex, she's the Environment Minister, and Tanya Plibersec said she completely understood young people's concerns. She noted the federal government had already legislated net zero emissions by twenty fifty although, as we discussed recently on TDA, all signs kind of point towards Australia not really being on track to achieve those targets.
What about from an education perspective, is there any concern around so many kids around the country missing class today?
So Education Minister Jason Claire did release a statement saying that it's great to see students passionate and engaged on the issue, but he said students should be at school during school hours. The Greens pushed back on those comments. Education spokesperson Senator Penny Onman Pain said she had written to Jason Clare urging him to retract his comments. She said students are protesting not because they want to skip school, but because they are being forced to.
It is shaping up to be an interesting day. If you want to stay across at TDA will be covering the rally, So keep an eye out on our Instagram And if you learned something from this episode and you're listening on Apple Podcasts, please rate and review it. It helps the Daily ods grow and find new listeners. It only takes a few seconds and it really helps us get the word out. We will be back next week.
Bye, have a great weekend.