MEDIA RELEASE - 16 November 2020

Friends of the Earth welcomes Andrews govt investment to get rolling on the Suburban Rail Loop

Friends of the Earth Melbourne welcomes today’s announcement by the Andrews government that it will invest $2.2 billion to begin Stage One of the Suburban Rail Loop.

Join us for an online forum to hear from Bendigo locals about transport issues and solutions in the face of climate change and COVID-normal.

Environment group Friends of the Earth welcome the Andrews government’s announcement that Victoria will build Australia’s biggest battery, saying it’s a sign the state government can deliver a clean recovery to COVID-19 while acting on the climate crisis.

The 300 megawatt grid-scale battery project to be built near Geelong will create 85 jobs, accelerate the rollout of renewable energy, and help the Victorian government meet legislated commitments to cut emissions.

Media Release 19th Oct 2020

Walk to Build #MM2: The Melbourne Metro 2 Rail line will be imperative to build back a more resilient Melbourne.

50 years ago a section of the West Gate Bridge collapsed in Australia’s worst industrial incident. In this edition we pay tribute to the 35 workers killed in the collapse, the 18 who were seriously injured and all of the family members and workers who were deeply affected by this disaster. Remembering also means that we remember how this preventable catastrophe happened and the callous and inadequate response from the bosses and government.

Pressure is building on the Morrison government to deliver on offshore wind, after Gippsland Nationals MP Darren Chester faced questions on QandA recently and regional climate groups raised the alarm on the climate crisis during the past fortnight.

It raises the question of the whether the Coalition government and Energy Minister Angus Taylor can deliver on offshore wind in 2020?

Fire has played a pivotal role in almost all landscapes across Australia for millions of years. The continent of Australia is a cultural and natural landscape: it has been shaped by First Nations peoples for many hundreds of generations. Colonisation disrupted this long management and now settler society is trying to understand how fire should be used in the landscape to manage it for biodiversity, asset protection, and human safety.

One key tool used to manage fire risk is fuel reduction (or hazard reduction) burning. While often presented as a panacea for fires, it requires a complex and nuanced application to be safe and effective. But many vocal proponents of fuel reduction burning see it as a blunt instrument that can - and should be - applied across all forested landscapes frequently. As we know, the natural world is a complex place. When using a tool with such large implications as fire, we need an equally complex approach rather than a blanket ‘we must burn the bush’ mantra.

These posts will explore some of the issues at play as we, as a society, grapple with how to respond to and manage fire in a time of climate change.

Join a decentralised, personalised, Covid-safe community walk 19-25 October in support of the Melbourne Metro 2 (MM2) rail line proposal to increase sustainable public transport as part of Melbourne’s clean recovery.

Kalbar Operations Pty Ltd, a company with no experience operating a mine, is proposing a massive open-cut mineral sands mine at the Fingerboards, 20km north west of Bairnsdale in East Gippsland.

This proposal will come with a large environmental cost, huge impact on local farmland and the local economy, and is strongly opposed by the majority of locals.

The state government has opened up the opportunity to express your opposition to the mine. You can send a submission in response to the Environment Effects Statement (EES) for the project. Submissions must be lodged by 5pm on 29 October 2020.  

This blog mentions violence and death.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers should be aware that this article contains the name of a deceased person.  

Public transport is contested; to reap the benefits of post-COVID infrastructure investment, we must acknowledge this.

With Victoria irrevocably changed due to COVID-19, it is fair to say that the events of 2020 have laid bare the deep-rooted socioeconomic inequities which underpin our society, and our struggles to overcome them.