Yarra Climate Action Now!

Are You In? from Environment Victoria on Vimeo.

YCAN's re-branding sessions outside the office of Richard Wynne, Labor member for Richmond are catching people's attention. See coverage below from the Melbourne Leader and Melbourne Times.

Please get in touch to help with the campaign to get Victoria out of coal and into renewable energy: yarracan -at- gmail.com, or drop in to a re-branding session for a chat, every Wednesday, 5.30-6.30pm, 112 Smith St, Collingwood.

Every Wednesday starting 3 February 5.30-6.30pm, 112 Smith St, Collingwood - 'til the bastards put humanity ahead of coal industry profits

Our weekly re-branding sessions continue and we need you!!

After completing six weeks in a row in 2009, we will now attempt to have a weekly presence outside Labor Minister Richard Wynne's office until the November State Election or until the Brumby Government implements some decent climate crisis policies!

Our actions are already having an effect. Richard Wynne was one of the Ministers that successfully argued to postpone the allocation of brown coal for export to India.

We will be correcting the Brumby Government's image, to match its pro-coal actions, every Wednesday, 5.30-6.30pm, 112 Smith St, Collingwood.

WE NEED YOU FOR THIS TO SUCCEED – CAN YOU FILL A WEEKLY, FORTNIGHTLY, MONTHLY OR ONE-OFF ONE HOUR SHIFT AT THE PROTEST VIGIL ON A WEDNESDAY EVENING? If you can please contact us – Yarracan -at- gmail.com

Also, if you are a musician or performer and feel like busking while we do our rebranding, we would love to have you on a Wednesday evening.

Some recent Brumby Government climate change 'initiatives':

• Investing our money in the construction of a new coal-fired power station in the Latrobe Valley.
• Lobbying to get the owners of coal power stations more compensation from taxpayers under an emissions trading scheme.
• Accepting thousands of dollars in donations to the Labor Party from coal corporations in return for private meetings in which coal expansion proposals are discussed.
• Investing in research in so-called ‘clean coal’ rather than genuinely clean energy production like 24-hour baseload solar and wind power that actually exist.
• Going back on a promise to introduce a gross feed-in tariff which would pay owners of solar panels for all the electricity their panels produced.
• Looking into exporting dirty brown coal to countries like India.

(references for the points above available on request)

To get on the roster for a shift contact Yarracan -at- gmail.com or show up on a Wednesday.

Millions of people in around 50 countries have marched this weekend to demand a strong, fair and binding deal at the Copenhagen climate talks.

Around 100,000 protested in Copenhagen itself, while Melbourne had the biggest rally in Australia with police estimates putting the crowd at a massive 40,000 people. The Walk Against Warming, which took place in every Australian capital and many regional centres, showed once again that many Australians are deeply worried about what the climate crisis means for them and their children, and that they are prepared to take to the streets to express this.

The talks will continue until Friday.

For ABC news coverage of the Walk click here.

For more photos click here and/or here.

I arrive early in the morning and help them set up their marquee on the lawn in front of Parliament House in Canberra. They are not in their usual position today because the lawn will be used to host a barbecue for the former wards of the state after their official apology from the Federal Government and the last thing they want is to be able to smell the food.

All three of the people I’m visiting, Paul, Marcella and Michael are in good spirits even though they have eaten nothing and have drunk only water for the last nine days. As we settle down under their marquee, I get the official business out of the way by letting them know that I am here not only representing myself, but my local climate action group, Yarra Climate Action Now, and that they have our admiration, respect and gratitude.

These three people on hunger strike outside Parliament House are one component of Climate Justice Fast – an international hunger strike for climate justice and for urgent and science-based actions to prevent catastrophic global warming. There are around 100 people around the world taking part in fasts of varying length as part of this action, with numbers growing day by day. Eight of these people, including Paul and Michael here in Canberra are doing the “full” fast, which is indefinite and will probably go until after the Copenhagen negotiations finish – a total of six weeks without food!

The key messages of the fast are that in line with the most robust and up to date climate science, world leaders need to agree to cut emissions and draw-down carbon from the atmosphere in order to get below 350 parts per million (ppm) carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere (currently at around 387ppm and the Rudd Government target is a suicidal 450ppm), and that the rich world must pay the poor world US$160 billion per year to help them cut emissions and adapt to the impacts already being felt.

Paul, 29, from Melbourne and the main organiser of the huger strike said, “We feel that it is our duty to do everything possible to prevent the world’s poorest people and our very own children from suffering at the hands of a problem which they did not create.”

Marcella, 31 and also from Melbourne adds, “we may be suffering by not eating. However, our suffering is voluntary. The victims of the Victorian bushfires and heatwaves last summer died because of the terrible conditions caused in part by our climate changing. Climate change is already causing immense suffering and we can’t stand by and let it get worse.”

We lie under the marquee, it is a 36 degree day and it’s getting hot. Every now and then someone drops in to say hello and have a chat, most are very supportive and Marcella invites them to write in their guest book. At times the conversation is so normal that I forget the immense effort and sacrifice these three people are making. When I remember that they haven’t eaten for almost ten days it feels a little surreal.

I chat to Michael, from Sydney and 61 years old, about renewable energy and carbon sequestration. We eventually get onto the topic of his fast. He tells me that the doctors who examine them regularly say he will most likely end up in hospital. He doesn’t seem too worried about this. For him, the fast is a way to show the Australian public how urgent and serious the climate crisis is. It is also about morality. “We are using our own bodies to expose the moral bankruptcy of our leaders”, he says.

The day ends on an exciting note. The Run for a Safe Climate is passing through Canberra today. They are about half-way through their run from Cooktown to Melbourne via Adelaide, and the 25 runners have run around 20km in the searing heat. I watch as the fasters and the runners, made up of police officers, fire fighters, SES workers and paramedics, chat – the parallels between their actions become obvious as they talk about their experiences.

There are several politicians there to welcome the runners. After the official welcome Paul and Marcella have a chat with Greens Senators Bob Brown and Christine Milne. There is mutual admiration amongst all concerned and I take great pleasure in being able to get some video footage of the chat before a policeman informs me I am not allowed to film because I’m not authorised. As soon as he leaves I pull out the camera again until stopped by another policeman.

Marcella tries to approach Senator Penny Wong, but she makes a run for it as soon as she sees her “Climate Justice Fast!” t-shirt. I wonder out loud why she even bothers to turn up at climate change events considering how woefully her government is dealing with the crisis. Does she have no shame?

Late in the evening we say our goodbyes. As I have my first morsel of food for over 24 hours and get on the bus back to Melbourne the next morning, I think about them once again setting up on the Parliament House lawn and settling in for another day without food. I think about the humble manner by which they are going about their extraordinary action and I hope they are able to get the coverage for the cause that they are aiming for. I also hope they don’t feel alone and isolated in a world that can sometimes seem impervious to acts of sanity like this one.

As the bus leaves Canberra behind my mind settles on one of the entries in their guestbook, written by a year seven student who dropped in to the marquee with his mother. It said, “You are doing a good thing. I wish there were more of you”.

More videos available here.

Reminder:

SAVE SOLAR SYSTEMS RALLY – 5:30 FRIDAY 30 OCTOBER, PARLIAMENT HOUSE

The building of the first large-scale solar power plant in Australia is in doubt.

The Solar Systems power plant will create 1,000 renewable energy jobs, power 45,000 homes and uses home grown, Australian designed and built, world leading technology.

As the administrators look at whether funding for Solar Systems can be found, now is our chance to build momentum for clean energy and demand that state and Federal Governments live up to their rhetoric of supporting renewables.

Join us at the Save Solar Systems Rally, tomorrow, Friday 30th October at 5:30 PM at Parliament House.

Your voice counts. Tell the Government that we want solar not coal.

Are our leaders criminally insane? Or maybe they live in a parallel universe?
These questions may seem harsh (and probably weird), but they need to be asked urgently in the face of developments in the past week.

First we'll set some context. The climate science keeps getting worse. Climate change is happening faster and faster, with the impacts become greater. We are facing an emergency the likes of which humanity has never seen. Europe's leading climate scientist, Prof Schellnhuber, has warned that on current trends, the Earth's carrying capacity for humans will be below one billion by the year 2100. He also released a report recently, which showed that to give ourselves a two out of three chance of avoiding more than 2 degrees of warming (already unsafe), the USA and Australia needed to cut their emissions to zero by 2020, China by 2035, with the whole world reaching zero by 2050.

In this context, the inaction of our governments on climate change is indeed striking, and the lengths they will go to to protect the profits of the coal industry very disturbing.

Last week, the Rudd Government rejected a UK Government proposal that Australia sign up to their policy of only approving new coal-fired power stations if they have clean coal (carbon capture and storage) technology in place. This sensible policy was rejected, probably because the Rudd Government is aware this would mean no more coal-fired power stations would be built, as carbon capture and storage will never be viable. But why are they planning to build any more anyway? How about some wind and solar thermal power?

At the state level, The Age revealed that the Minister for Maximising Coal Industry Profits, Peter Batchelor, is planning to open up Victoria's brown coal resources for export to India. This would mean that we export the world's most greenhouse gas intensive fuel to India for it to burn in its power stations. Why aren't we investing in manufacturing renewable energy technology and exporting that?

Our climate scientists are very worried, but they insist we still have a chance to avoid runaway climate change. However, this won't happen unless we stop burning coal, and stop it fast.

We need to let our leaders know that we don't live in a parallel universe, we live in reality, a reality threatened by the climate crisis.

A snap rally has been called to encourage Brumby to block the coal export proposal:
START: 12.30, Thursday 22nd October
WHERE: Steps of Parliament House, Spring St
FINISH: 1.10 – plenty of time for lunch and getting back to work!
RSVP: Let us know you’re coming by sending a quick email to exportingcoalisdumb -at- yahoo.com.au

I eavesdropped as the father explained to his very young daughter that the black balloons really came from this place, not the washing machine. Looming over us was the Hazelwood coal power station, the single biggest source of greenhouse gas emissions in Australia. Around us were 500 other people, some of who had travelled long distances, as well as many locals, to help send the message that for our own survival, we need to urgently transition away from coal and towards renewable energy and energy efficiency, and that this means switching off Hazelwood and finding alternative jobs for the workers inside.

Scientists have made it clear that getting out of coal should be our number one priority for reducing emissions and avoiding runaway climate change.

We had spent the night before camping with 230 people, discussing tactics for the day and more general climate change topics, as well as sharing a meal and listening to some fantastic live music. On the day, despite early rain, the atmosphere was positive and friendly. We were welcomed to country by Robbie Thorpe, a local Gunai elder and heard from fantastic speakers.


We marched to Hazelwood and were met with a heavy police presence. Twenty-two people managed to get over the Hazelwood fence and deliver a community decommission order. They were charged with trespass. There were many more willing to commit civil disobedience, but were not nimble enough to get over the fence without the police stopping them.

We received blanket media coverage that night on TV and in the papers the next day. A great time was had by all and the importance of peaceful civil disobedience made clear. It was an historic day for all of us fighting for a safe climate future against the insanity of our governments and fossil fuel industries.

It's time - switch off coal and switch on renewables!

See you at the next protest!


Click here for more photos.

www.switchoffhazelwood.org - for a summary of the media coverage

The fourth climate camp in the UK has wound up! What an inspiring week! This year it was held in London, at a location kept secret until the first day and communicated to thousands of attendees by SMS.

This event, which went from 27 August to 2 September resulted in protests and civil disobedience all over London, as well as the usual workshops held at the campsite.

Actions were held at the Royal Bank of Scotland and Barclays Bank, for financing fossil fuel projects, the PR firm Edelman PR, for their work helping the energy company E.ON promote their plans for a new coal fired power station, the offices of Shell and BP (for obvious reasons), the UK treasury (ditto), London City airport and the carbon trading exchange.

To see more, visit the camp for climate action UK website, or the Guardian's coverage online.


And for your entertainment, just before the camp, the organisers responded to police requests for information on where the camp was going to be with this cheeky video:

"Switch off Hazelwood. Switch off Coal. Switch on Renewables” is a day of fun, creative and inspiring peaceful community action at Victoria's dirtiest secret, Hazelwood coal power station. This march and protest at the gates of the Hazelwood Power Station, is organised by community members who care about climate change.

We need you all there!

The Hazelwood protest is the community climate movement's big protest action in the lead up to the Copenhagen negotiations. It's timed to coincide with the peak arctic ice melt, and it's far enough ahead to have a bearing on the Copenhagen negotiations, which are happening now!

The day is building to be a big success.

It is billed as a protest and peaceful mass civil disobedience and we need every one concerned about climate change to be involved! Here's what it means:

There are two distinct arms to the event:

You can protest outside the station with banners, clowns, some great creative and positive props, music and speakers - hopefully to include Senator Christine Milne, one of the few politicians advocating a reasonable science based approach to climate change.

At some point in the day, the second arm of the protest will attempt to walk on to the station to serve "Community Decommission Orders" to Hazelwood Power Station. This completely peaceful act of protest may result in those people being liable for charges of trespass: a decision that people have been willing to take because of the scale of the threat to our well-being posed by the climate crisis.

Participants in both groups are equally important!

Some further information:

Background

Coal burning power stations are one of the main contributors to climate change, which poses an enormous threat to the world and it's inhabitants. Hazelwood is one of the dirtiest coal power stations in the industrialised world. It releases an average of 17 million tonnes of CO2 into the atmosphere every year and represents around 5% of Australia's emissions. It was scheduled to be shut down this year, however it was given a lifeline by the ALP state government in 2005 allowing it to continue operation until 2031. We need support renewable energy instead and extend the lifeline to our planet!

We are advocating an urgent transition to 100% renewable energy and away from coal. This is already technically possible. We are also demanding that the government support the Latrobe Valley community in a transition away from fossil fuels towards a clean energy manufacturing hub - protecting jobs and giving us all a future. Replacing dinosaurs like Hazelwood with renewable energy is the first step in this transition.

Our State and Federal Governments are failing on climate change. Their policies are nowhere near what scientists are saying is needed to avoid catastrophe.


Details of the Event

On 11am on Sunday September 13, 2009 we will meet on the corner of Broadribb & Nadenboushs Rd (South of Morwell) and march to the front gates of the Hazelwood, rallying to 'Switch on Renewables and Switch off Coal' and slap a Community Decommission Order on Hazelwood Power Station. The event will be well organized with speakers, media link ups, first aid and medical help available but you'll need to bring your own food and drink.

Skills Workshop

There is a weekend skills workshop coming up this weekend, 29/30 August: to build skills for future climate protest organizing as well as skilling up for the day . Look on the website for details!

And Of Course...

Climate change is a threat of unprecedented proportions to our world and all it's inhabitants. People who have never been involved in protest before are getting involved in protests over limate change. The science says we already have too much carbon in the atmosphere to avoid run away climate change. We need to motivate our politicians to act fast enough - that means stopping burning coal, building renewable energy ASAP and sequestering carbon out of the atmosphere. We need to speak strongly, loudly and persistently until it happens!

If possible, RSVP on the website to help with planning for the day. Any questions and for further details of the protest and how to get there go to the website: www.switchoffhazelwood.org

Dr James Hansen, one of the world’s most respected climate scientists (who raised the alarm on climate change in the US Congress 20 years ago) was arrested together with a 94 year old former congressman, Hollywood actress Daryl Hannah and around 30 others at a protest against mountaintop removal coal mining on the 22nd of June.


The protesters sat down and blocked a road near the Goals Coal Plant in West Virginia, demanding that this destructive form of mining be stopped, due to the direct ecological damage it is causing and the urgent need to stop burning coal in order to avoid catastrophic climate change.

"I am not a politician; I am a scientist and a citizen," said Hansen, who is the director of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York City and adjunct professor in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at Columbia University.

"Politicians may have to advocate for halfway measures if they choose. But it is our responsibility to make sure our representatives feel the full force of citizens who speak for what is right, not what is politically expedient," Hansen told a crowd of about 350 people gathered at Marsh Fork Elementary. "Mountaintop removal, providing only a small fraction of our energy, should be abolished."

Thank you Dr. Hansen.

For those of us that want to follow Dr. Hansen’s brave example, sign up at beyontalk.net and come along to the peaceful community protest at Hazelwood Power Station on 12-13 of September this year.

Yesterday’s National Climate Emergency Rally saw thousands of Australians take to the streets to demand the Rudd Government recognise climate change for the emergency it is, take the Carbon Pollution Rewards Scheme back to the drawing board, and take much stronger action to create green jobs and a switch to 100% renewable energy by 2020.

Rallies were held in Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide, Perth, Brisbane, Canberra, Hobart and Wollongong.

Damien Lawson’s opinion piece published in The Age today sums up the sentiments of protestors: Stop wasting time and save the planet Mr Rudd

For photos of the event click here, here and here.

The rallies received media attention in Australia and internationally, see:

BBC - Australians demand climate action
Reuters India - Australians demand more action on climate change

ABC Online - Wong defends policy amid climate change protests
The Sydney Morning Herald - Activists call for green jobs
The West Australian - Hundreds rally in Perth for climate action

...and compilation of TV coverage in Sydney

6 months to Copenhagen and a crucial vote on the terrible Carbon Pollution Law in the Senate. Now is the time to show you care.

National Climate Emergency Rally
1pm, Saturday June 13, State Library, Melbourne


If you have thought of taking action on climate change, now is the time. Drought, bushfires, floods and rising seas are already hitting hard. It’s an emergency and we need emergency action.

In December 2009, governments of the world will meet in Copenhagen to create a new global climate agreement. Australia must support, not stop, strong global action.

We can tackle the recession and climate change together. Direct investment in renewable energy will create jobs, stimulate the economy and begin to create the carbon-free economy of the future.

100% renewable energy by 2020
Australia must make the shift from fossil fuels to 100% renewable energy from wind, solar and other available technologies.

Green collar jobs not job cuts
We can renew our economy by creating hundreds of thousands of ‘green jobs’ and supporting workers to make a fair and just transition to sustainable industries.

Strong international action with climate justice
Australia must take the lead in global climate talks, not undermine them with an ineffective 5%-25% target. Globally, we must to listen those who are most affected by climate change and least responsible for it.

Don’t pass the Carbon Pollution law
We need climate policies that make the big polluters pay and not allow big companies to go on polluting. The CPRS won’t reduce Australia’s greenhouse pollution.

Protect Australia’s Forests
Logging and clearing vegetation are major contributors to climate change as forests and woodlands are essential carbon stores.

1pm Saturday, June 13, State Library
Only a strong and growing movement for change will make a difference. Come with your friends and family to the Rally. Help promote the rally in your community.

Speakers and entertainment includes:
Peter Marshall - United Firefighters Union, Emeretta Cross -Tuvaluan climate activist, David Spratt - author Climate Code Red, Greens leader Senator Bob Brown, Rod Quantock - Melbourne comedian and Taegen Edwards - Yarra Climate Action Now.
Music by Melting Pot.

Yesterday, thousands of people went to St Kilda beach to send a message with our bodies to our so called leaders on climate change. The wording of the sign was chosen by local grade six student Sophie Dickinson.

Yarra Climate Action Now was a proud participant in this event, brilliantly organised by Locals Into Victoria’s Environment, supported by Bayside Climate Change Action Group, both local climate action groups in Melbourne.

The sign stretched for 350m and we are yet to hear if it broke the record for the world’s biggest human sign.


Kevin Rudd are you listening? John Brumby are you listening?

Our future is more important than the vested interests of a few large corporations. We need you to listen to the scientists and transition our country to 100% renewable energy as soon as possible. That means stop giving money to the big polluters, and invest in a green future and green jobs. Now.

If an eleven year old child can see it so clearly, why can't you?

For more photos of the event, click here, and for a video of the event, click here.

Rally
1pm Wednesday 6 May
Steps of Parliament House, Spring Street

This protest is to demand a real feed-in tariff for Victoria, as opposed to the pointless scheme being proposed by the Brumby Government.

A real, gross, feed-in tariff will:

• increase the number of solar panels on Victorian roofs
• grow green collar jobs in Victoria
• support our solar industry
• and reduce our greenhouse gas emissions

Come out to support green jobs and solar energy. We have a unique opportunity to influence the Victorian Parliament to amend the flawed legislation!

For further information on solar feed-in tariffs, see our previous blog entry here, and see Environment Victoria’s website.

Contact Victoria@envict.org.au for further information.

To send Ted Baillieu a message on this issue instantly, click here.

Yarra Climate Action Now, together with several other climate action groups across Melbourne have launched the Get the Picture Kev! visual petition. The photos will be collected at markets and other events, and presented to Kevin Rudd later in the year.

To host the cardboard cut-out and collect photos please contact us on YarraCAN@gmail.com.

To see media coverage of the petition in the Melbourne Leader, click here.

To see all the photos we have uploaded so far click here.

Kev's appearances in May 2009 will be:
Saturday 9 May at the Collingwood Children's Farm farmers market
Sunday 17 May at the Giant Human Sign at St Kilda Beach
Saturday 23 May at the Abbotsford Convent farmers market

That's all there is to say, the photos speak for themselves!



















For more photos, click here.

As part of a national day of action, where around 32 protests were held outside the offices of Federal MPs in every state and territory, Yarra Climate Action Now and friends gathered outside the office of Lindsay Tanner, Member for Melbourne and Finance Minister.

The message was clear, we want a climate change policy from the Federal Government that doesn't lock in failure and catastrophic climate change. We want the Federal Government to listen to the scientists and the community, not the powerful polluter lobbies.

What's at stake is no less than the survival of humanity. For more information on why the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme is worse than nothing, see the post below.

For coverage of the protest see the second half of this article (please note, the article gets the name of our spokesperson wrong, and the name of our group wrong - you've got to love lazy journalists).

Below are a few photos:

Co-author of Climate Code Red, David Spratt addresses the crowd.

(c) Yarra Climate Action Now


The Climate Emergency Service band performs.

(c) Yarra Climate Action Now


A protester lets Lindsay Tanner know he'll be held accountable over the Labor Party's inadequate and anti-scientific climate change policies.

(c) Yarra Climate Action Now

A summary of all the protests around Australia is available here.

To see a video of the protest the day after these protests at Hazelwood Power Station, click here.

This Friday, 27 March will see around 30 actions all over Australia at MP offices. They will be happening to protest the Rudd Government’s Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS).

Come along to one (or two!) of them, if we don’t fight for a safe climate future, we won’t get one! Details of actions at the bottom of this post.

Yarra Climate Action Now will be attending the action at Member for Melbourne Lindsay Tanner's office, Friday 27 March, 12pm, 280 King St, Melbourne.

The Rudd Government's CPRS is a sick joke, written at the behest of the fossil fuel and dirty industry lobbies at the Australian people's expense.

It will:
- lock in inadequate and unscientific emissions reduction targets of 5-15% by 2020 on 2000 levels
- undermine international negotiations on an emissions agreement by showing Australia is not willing to pull its weight
- give pollution property rights to polluters, opening the Australian taxpayer up to potential compensation claims in the future when we have a government that will actually take climate change seriously
- result in a massive transfer of wealth from all of us to already rich, polluting companies, through free permits and other "compensation" giveaways
- disenfranchise voluntary action to reduce emissions by households and communities.

According to Guy Pearse in the latest Quarterly Essay, the giveaways to big business in the CPRS add up to a:

• $455 one-off payment per Australian household to prop up the value of coal fired power stations for their mostly government and foreign owners.
• $93 one-off payment per Australian household to the coal-mining industry
• $500 per year per Australian household between now and 2020 (and beyond) to buy free permits for Australia's worst polluting industries.

The scheme is designed to maintain business as usual and transfer wealth, while giving the appearance of action. It will not stop fossil fuels from being dug up and burnt, despite the urgent need to keep the coal, gas and oil in the ground. We need to urgently transition to a zero emissions economy, and the CPRS does nothing to begin that transition, in fact it probably sabotages this. We have to take a stand against a policy that puts the interests of big polluters above those of all Australian's and future generations.


Confirmed actions on 27 March include:

VICTORIA
* Office of Lindsay Tanner, Member for Melbourne, 280 King St, Melbourme at 12pm.

* Office of Kelvin Thompson, Member for Wills, 3 Munro Street, Coburg at 10am. Info Ellen on ellenmroberts at yahoo.com.au

* Office of Martin Ferguson, Member for Batman at 8am, 159 High Street, Preston. Info: Carol on caride at bigpond.com.au

* Office of Jenny Macklin, Member for Jaga Jaga at 10am, 149 Burgundy Street, Heidelberg. Info: Bridgit on bbattova3 at bigpond.com.au

* Office of Peter Costello, Member for Higgins at 10am, 1343 Malvern Road Malvern, contact Sue on 0411885126

* Office of Nicola Roxon, Member for Gellibrand at 10am, 1 Thomas Holmes Street Maribyrnong. Info: Shaun westsax at westnet.com.au

* Office of Steve Gibbons, Member for Bendigo at 10.30am, Cnr Williamson and Myers St, Bendigo. Info Dean dc at masg.org.au

* Office of Senator Jacinta Collins, 1013 Whitehorse Rd, Box Hill, 10.30am, info Carol, ci at the.inter.net.au

* Office of Sophie Mirabella, Member for Indi, 117 Murphy St, Wangaratta, 9am

* Office of Richard Marles, Member for Corio, 12 noon, 17A Yarra St, Geelong. Contact: Mitch 0448 997 415 bukitmouth at hotmail.com

* Office of Michael Danby, Member for Melbourne Ports, 12pm, 117 Fitzroy St, St.Kilda West, info David, david.robinson at y7mail.com

* Office of Simon Crean, Member for Hotham, 10am, 401 Clayton Road, Clayton. Info Imogen imogen.jackson at gmail.com


SOUTH AUSTRALIA
*4pm-5.30pm Commonwealth Parliamentary Offices, 100 King William St, Adelaide, info Gemma gemma.weedall at student.adelaide.edu.au


AUSTRALIAN CAPITAL TERRITORY
*8am Federal Department of Climate Change, 2 Constitution Ave, Canberra, info Leigh, 0421 282 825


NEW SOUTH WALES
* Office of Anthony Albanese, Member for Grayndler at 9am, 334a Marrickville Rd, Marrickville. Info Climate Action Newtown

* Office of Tanya Plibersek, Member for Sydney – 12.09pm [As the international meeting in Copenhagen will be in December 2009], 422 Crown St, Surry Hills. Contact Climate Change Balmain-Rozelle, ccbrmail at aapt.net.au

* Office of Maxine McKew, Member for Bennelong, 10am, 230 Victoria Rd, Gladesville, info Jo info at climatechangerg.org.

* Office of Peter Garrett, Member for Kingsford Smith, 11am, Level 6, 806-812 Anzac Pde, Maroubra, info Scarlet scarlet.wilcock at gmail.com

* Office of Julie Owen, Member for Parramatta, 11am, Suite 8, The Octagon, 110 George St, Parramatta, info 0425 265 169.

*Office of Bob Debus, Member for Macquarie, 10am, 98 Bathurst St, Katoomba, info 0400 302 279
AND his other electorate office:
10.30am, 3/217 Howick St, Bathurst, info Judy, judygreg.walker at gmail.com

* Office of Sharon Bird, Member for Cunningham, Shop 501, Globe Lane, Wollongong - more details to come.

* Office of Senator Michael Forshaw, 4pm, Suite 2, Level 1, 33-35 Belmont St, Sutherland, info Jon, jon at doig.net

* Labor Party Headquarters – 3pm, 377 Sussex St Sydney NSW 2000. Contact Friends of the Earth Sydney - 0402 564 862

* Office of Greg Combet, Member for Charlton and Parliamentary Secretary for Climate Change, 8:30am, 324 Main Road, Cardiff, following a footpath march down from Cardiff Station from about 8.15 am (Newcastle train arrives 8.12am). Organised by Climate Action Newcastle (CAN), Lake Macquarie Climate Action (LMCA) and Rising Tide. Info Zoe 0425316496 or zoetiarerogers at gmail.com

* Office of Sharon Grierson, Member for Newcastle, 10am, 427 Hunter St, Newcastle. Organised by members of the Newcastle University Student Association. Info simon.cunich - at - gmail.com


QUEENSLAND
* Office of Kevin Rudd, Member for Griffith, 1pm, 630 Wynnum Road Morningside. Info: Dominic, dominicale at optusnet.com.au or 0436 638 772.


WESTERN AUSTRALIA
* Office of Stephen Smith, 8.30am, 953a Beaufort St, Ingelwood info, www.safeclimate.org.au
Ph 0417 319 662.


NORTHERN TERRITORY
* Office of Damian Hale, Member for Solomon, 30 The Smith Street Mall, Darwin. Info Justin Justin at nonuk.es - more details to come.

* Office of Warren Snowdon, Member for Lingiari, 1pm, Unit 3, 12 Gregory Tce, Alice Springs. Info Ruth ruthapelt@yahoo.com. 2:30pm meeting with Warren Snowdon, info Mandy iainandmandy at octa4.net.au


For updates, how-to guides and further information go to http://stepitupaustralia.wordpress.com/