Friends of the Earth (FoE) Melbourne  is a non-for profit organisation working for a socially equitable and environmentally sustainable future. The international Friends of the Earth network is  active in 77 countries with over 2 million members. Read more.

A ‘green new deal’ proposal for a Fair and Just Transition from Friends of the Earth

There is an urgent climate imperative to transform our economy. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report (2018) argued that, by 2030, global emissions must drop by 45% from their 2010 levels if we are to avoid exposing hundreds of millions of people to serious climate-related hazards. A growing body of mainstream climate science says that we need to achieve deeper targets earlier if we are to avoid catastrophic climate change.

We are facing a climate crisis... 

Australia's emissions are rising due to the Federal Coalition's failure to act on climate. And this failure leaves Victorian communities exposed to intensifying impacts such as heatwaves, droughts, bushfires, extreme weather, and rising sea levels.

Victoria has an opportunity to put the country back on track.

For the first time, the Andrews government is about to set an Emissions Reduction Target for 2025. 

The well-known and much-loved Quit Coal Victoria collective from Friends of the Earth Melbourne has decided to rename itself as the Energy Justice Victoria collective. We love our supporters and know many people are passionate about Quit Coal Victoria’s work, and so we wanted to explain to everyone why we are renaming ourselves and why we are so excited about it!

Golden Beach is an idyllic section of Ninety Mile Beach. It boasts a pristine coastline, where whales can be seen from the sand in migrating season. The beaches have plentiful fish, native birds and the skeletal remains of an 1897 shipwreck.

But there is a cloud hanging over this lovely place.

A publicly funded State Government project, called CarbonNet, has earmarked the area for waste-carbon injection.

Victorian Minister for Water Lisa Neville announced today that she will step up to limit water extraction below the Barmah Choke with a new licence review process. 

The Minister has directed Lower Murray Water and Goulburn Murray Water to refer all licence applications in the lower Murray region to her for assessment for the next 12 months.

The Murray Darling Basin Plan set out to save our rivers from environmental disaster. Since the $13 Billion Plan began in 2012, there has been major concerns raised with implementation, including allegations of corruption, maladministration and mismanagement.

Communities who depend on our rivers fear that if we don’t act now to bring the Plan back on track, our rivers will die and dependent communities will decline.

Here, we present a 7 point strategy to restore integrity to the Plan, so it can deliver on its key objectives – to keep the rivers and dependent communities alive and well.

Email Victorian Water Minister Lisa Neville Here

In light of recent fish kill events and decrease in the health of the Murray-Darling Basin, new funding announcements have surfaced from the office of the Victorian Minister for Water, Lisa Neville. 

BHP is planning to expand the Olympic Dam Tailings dump to be larger than the CBD of Adelaide AND to be up to 30 metres high at the centre of the tailings pile – around the height of a 10 story building. 

All BHP Olympic Dam radioactive toxic mine tailings waste must be isolated from the environment for over 10,000 years.

Please consider making a submission to the federal government who are inviting comments on the BHP Olympic Dam Tailings Storage Facility (TSF) 6 project – but only up to cob Friday 28th June, with no extensions.

Tell the federal government they must not approve this expansion! 

The Herald Sun and The Age have reported that the Yallourn coal fired power station could close earlier than expected, possibly within six years. 

This is a wakeup call: Victoria needs a real transition plan for the Latrobe Valley that delivers good sustainable jobs for the community.