Speaker 1: My name is Lily Maddon and I'm a proud Arunda
Speaker 1: Bungelung Calcottin woman from Gadighl Country. The Daily oz acknowledges
Speaker 1: that this podcast is recorded on the lands of the
Speaker 1: Gadighl people and pays respect to all Aboriginal and torrest
Speaker 1: Right island and nations. We pay our respects to the
Speaker 1: first peoples of these countries, both past and present.
Speaker 2: Good morning and welcome to the Daily os It's Friday,
Speaker 2: the seventeenth of November. I'm Emma Gillespie.
Speaker 3: I'm beliefit Simon's climate change is here.
Speaker 4: It is terrifying and it is just the beginning.
Speaker 5: This fire emergency has been raging since Monday.
Speaker 4: Flight evacuations continued into the night across the Gippsland region.
Speaker 2: Today, thousands of young people are expected to skip school
Speaker 2: to strike for climate action. If we don't stand up
Speaker 2: against these politicians who will not listen, if we don't
Speaker 2: make them, I guess our future doesn't look as good.
Speaker 4: If we continue on the trajectory that we are on.
Speaker 4: The precious places, landscapes, animals and plans that we think
Speaker 4: of when we think of home may not be here
Speaker 4: for our kids and grandkids.
Speaker 3: The Schools Strike for Climate has been gaining momentum in
Speaker 3: recent years and has become a national day of action
Speaker 3: from some of the country's youngest activists.
Speaker 2: We'll have more on who's protesting and where, what they're
Speaker 2: calling for, and what the government has to say about
Speaker 2: it in today's Deep Dive. But first, really an update
Speaker 2: on the Commonwealth Games.
Speaker 3: Yes, Australia has been warned it has three months to
Speaker 3: find a state to host the twenty twenty six Commonwealth
Speaker 3: Games before the common Game's Federation seeks out other options.
Speaker 3: It comes after former Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews pulled out
Speaker 3: of his state's commitment to host, citing budget concerns earlier
Speaker 3: this year. The Federation says there are three other regions
Speaker 3: that have signaled interest in hosting the next Commonwealth Games,
Speaker 3: but it did not name those regions.
Speaker 2: The Federal Transport Minister Catherine King has acted fifty rail
Speaker 2: and road projects across the country after an independent review
Speaker 2: found costs were expected to blow out by thirty three
Speaker 2: billion dollars. These projects include commuter car parks, motorway interchanges,
Speaker 2: and road upgrades in regional areas. The state where the
Speaker 2: most projects are being canceled is New South Wales, but
Speaker 2: the NT is the only jurisdiction to have no infrastructural
Speaker 2: projects cut.
Speaker 3: Australian tennis player Nick Kirios has said the stars would
Speaker 3: have to align a little bit if he was to
Speaker 3: make a successful comeback to tennis. Once ranked thirteenth in
Speaker 3: the world, Kurios is now unranked after knee surgery and
Speaker 3: a torn ligament in his right wrist.
Speaker 2: And the good news, Coles has announced its quiet Hour
Speaker 2: is expanding to weekday evenings. Coals stores around the nation
Speaker 2: will turn down the cash register sounds, play music on
Speaker 2: the low hot volume, and only use the PA system
Speaker 2: in emergencies from Monday to Friday six pm to seven pm.
Speaker 2: Quiet Our aims to make the supermarket more accessible for
Speaker 2: customers who might experience anxiety or stress in loud environments.
Speaker 2: Thousands of students across Australia are going on strike today
Speaker 2: for stronger climate action. And it's not just kids who
Speaker 2: are calling for change. Climate scientists, doctors, experts, teachers and
Speaker 2: parents have also thrown their weight behind these rallies to
Speaker 2: show their support for young people participating in school strike
Speaker 2: for climate.
Speaker 3: Now today we are going to hear from one of
Speaker 3: those students who are taking part in this action. But
Speaker 3: before we get into that, can you just explain who
Speaker 3: or what is School Strike for Climate.
Speaker 2: Yes, so this is a group of student activists protest
Speaker 2: organizers known as School Strike for Climate, and at the
Speaker 2: heart of their activism are calls for the federal government
Speaker 2: to move away from fossil fuels. So school Strike for
Speaker 2: Climate are pushing for an end for colon gas projects.
Speaker 2: And this is a national collective, so we're talking about
Speaker 2: student activists from all over the country, so you can
Speaker 2: expect to see protests in plenty of the major capital
Speaker 2: cities and in the regions. But as I mentioned earlier,
Speaker 2: the group has support from multiple Australian climate scientists and experts.
Speaker 2: You might have seen this week that Ossie climate scientists
Speaker 2: actually shared a downloadable version of a doctor's certificate for
Speaker 2: students to send to their schools today, because obviously, if
Speaker 2: you're a school student participating in a protest on a
Speaker 2: school day, you're not in class, and the certificate says
Speaker 2: that the student can't attend class because of a major
Speaker 2: climate health concern, with lists of symptoms like increased anxiety,
Speaker 2: elevated stress and feelings of despair.
Speaker 3: Now, Emma, you interviewed a high school student about today.
Speaker 3: Who did you speak to?
Speaker 2: So you're going to hear from Minn Park who actually
Speaker 2: spoke to us from her school to talk about today's action,
Speaker 2: which is the only time TDA has ever endorsed phones
Speaker 2: at school. Min is heading to the protests in Sydney
Speaker 2: and she's a spokesperson for this year's school strike for
Speaker 2: climate Hello, min, thank you so much for making time
Speaker 2: with us. Welcome to the podcast. What is the point
Speaker 2: of today's action?
Speaker 5: Well, school strike is all about empowering young people to
Speaker 5: take action for climate justice while because we are going
Speaker 5: to be bearing the brunch of the climate crisis if
Speaker 5: we don't address the problem. And I think the action
Speaker 5: today is mainly due to the government's in action and
Speaker 5: the government's complacency with doing nothing while actively making the
Speaker 5: situation work, such as approving more projects, because we recognize
Speaker 5: that the climate crisis is here right now and it's
Speaker 5: affecting all of us.
Speaker 6: And we have a responsibility to do something about it.
Speaker 2: Now I'm in Sydney. There's a rally happening down the
Speaker 2: road from where I'm sitting right now. What is the
Speaker 2: scale of today's protests, how many students are striking and
Speaker 2: where are they striking.
Speaker 5: We're expecting around three thousand people last time we checked,
Speaker 5: but there has been a lot of media coverage, so
Speaker 5: we're expecting a bit more than that. And we're going
Speaker 5: to be marching down to Tanya Pliparsex office because Tanya
Speaker 5: is the Environment Minister and while she should be doing
Speaker 5: something to protect the environment, it is in our hands
Speaker 5: right now and that's unacceptable.
Speaker 2: We've seen in the news this week these doctor's certificates
Speaker 2: and climate experts who came together and wrote these doctor's
Speaker 2: certificates to kind of give protesting students permission to be
Speaker 2: there today. What's your experience been like obviously you're not
Speaker 2: at school today. How have you been supported in that?
Speaker 5: Well, the climate doctor certificates we're mainly designed to give
Speaker 5: students the confidence of coming out to the strike, to
Speaker 5: give them assurance that there are people like them, There
Speaker 5: are experts that are supporting this idea that the climate.
Speaker 5: We are in a climate crisis right now and it
Speaker 5: is really becoming worse.
Speaker 2: How do you feel when you look at the cause
Speaker 2: of the climate strikes? School students you're a teenager yourself
Speaker 2: and you're marching for action by decision makers who are
Speaker 2: much older than you. What's that experience been like.
Speaker 5: Well, honestly, it's very frustrating that we even have to
Speaker 5: go out on the street and skip school to tell
Speaker 5: the government that they're not doing their job right. It
Speaker 5: shouldn't be our responsibility to take care of the environment
Speaker 5: and or like make policies or encourage policies that stand up.
Speaker 6: That should be the government doing that. The government should
Speaker 6: be addressing all these issues.
Speaker 5: But it is very frustrating that we have to come
Speaker 5: out here again and again, like this is I think
Speaker 5: the fifth year that we've done this, and it's very
Speaker 5: frustrating that policymakers still have not changed their stance on
Speaker 5: this and are continuously greenwashing.
Speaker 2: Have you got schoolmates friends you all going together? How
Speaker 2: do your parents feel about this? And has your school
Speaker 2: said that it's okay?
Speaker 6: My school that I'm going to right now?
Speaker 5: As a public school, they can't be supportive, But I
Speaker 5: think my school community is quite supportive. There are my
Speaker 5: friends are coming to the strike and there are going
Speaker 5: to be a lot of people. There are also a
Speaker 5: lot of people from school strikes that are organizing it,
Speaker 5: that are also coming, so it's quite a large community
Speaker 5: that are coming with us, and my parents are quite
Speaker 5: supportive as well, so that's really good for me.
Speaker 2: Obviously, we're talking about long term goals here, but what
Speaker 2: does student advocates really want to get out of today's action.
Speaker 6: That's a great question. The main thing we want to
Speaker 6: get out.
Speaker 5: Of this strike is that the government stops approving of
Speaker 5: new calling gas projects.
Speaker 6: We think that's the most important thing.
Speaker 5: That's the thing we really want to achieve by the
Speaker 5: end of the strike, and we really hope that government.
Speaker 6: After the strike will listen to us.
Speaker 5: We'll listen to young people, Indigenous communities and even our.
Speaker 6: Pacific neighbors who are leaders in the.
Speaker 5: Movement of turning renewables stop funding colin gas.
Speaker 6: So I think that's the main idea.
Speaker 2: You've expressed some frustration disappointment in the government and leadership
Speaker 2: around climate, but as you mentioned, this is a protest
Speaker 2: that's been going for a few years now. Does that
Speaker 2: make you feel hopeful about the future that we have
Speaker 2: so many young people invested in making change in this space.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I think it's empowering just to be organizing the
Speaker 5: strike even because it's really important that young people's voices
Speaker 5: are being heard and that we have this community of
Speaker 5: people who are passionate about climate justice and that we
Speaker 5: stop the government from just being able to greenwash us
Speaker 5: and doing whatever they want to destroy the planet.
Speaker 2: Well, thank you so much for making time to come
Speaker 2: on this podcast. I know, apart from being involved in
Speaker 2: this action, you are also a school student. You're also
Speaker 2: juggling all the pressures that come with that and life
Speaker 2: as a teenager. So we really appreciate you making time
Speaker 2: for us.
Speaker 6: Oh good, thank you.
Speaker 2: Now, obviously these young people are really passionate about this issue, Billy,
Speaker 2: but I also did want us to talk about the
Speaker 2: government's response to the strikes.
Speaker 3: Yees, So the whole strike is trying to change what
Speaker 3: the government is doing. So have we heard anything from
Speaker 3: the government.
Speaker 2: Yes, So the Daily I was reached out to Tanya Plibersex,
Speaker 2: she's the Environment Minister, and Tanya Plibersec said she completely
Speaker 2: understood young people's concerns. She noted the federal government had
Speaker 2: already legislated net zero emissions by twenty fifty although, as
Speaker 2: we discussed recently on TDA, all signs kind of point
Speaker 2: towards Australia not really being on track to achieve those targets.
Speaker 3: What about from an education perspective, is there any concern
Speaker 3: around so many kids around the country missing class today?
Speaker 2: So Education Minister Jason Claire did release a statement saying
Speaker 2: that it's great to see students passionate and engaged on
Speaker 2: the issue, but he said students should be at school
Speaker 2: during school hours. The Greens pushed back on those comments.
Speaker 2: Education spokesperson Senator Penny Onman Pain said she had written
Speaker 2: to Jason Clare urging him to retract his comments. She
Speaker 2: said students are protesting not because they want to skip school,
Speaker 2: but because they are being forced to.
Speaker 3: It is shaping up to be an interesting day. If
Speaker 3: you want to stay across at TDA will be covering
Speaker 3: the rally, So keep an eye out on our Instagram
Speaker 3: And if you learned something from this episode and you're
Speaker 3: listening on Apple Podcasts, please rate and review it. It
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Speaker 2: Bye, have a great weekend.