The time to define the economic recovery is now.
Will governments champion the community interest and climate justice or will it listen to lobbyists intent on entrenching fossil fuels?
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused immense disruption to our society. The economic shockwave has hit and will continue to reverberate and disproportionately affect vulnerable people in our community. Peoples lives and livelihoods are at stake.
Meanwhile, we're facing a climate crisis. Deep emissions cuts over the next decade are needed if we're to avoid catastrophic impacts. We need system change.
Sign the petition to call on the Andrews government to make climate justice a focus of the Victoria's economic recovery:
The Hon. Premier Dan Andrews,
We acknowledge your government's efforts to keep the community safe from the COVID-19 pandemic and protect us from the accompanying economic shockwave.
Victoria will need a vision to drive the economic recovery once the pandemic has been dealt with. We need a plan that responds to the economic shock of the pandemic and helps us make headway in tackling the climate crisis.
The Morrison government is pushing for a fossil-fuel-led recovery. Not only does this backward-looking approach undermine global efforts on climate, but it ties our economic future to out-dated and polluting technology.
Victoria will have to forge its own path, as it has done with renewable energy and other important issues.
We call on your government to make climate justice a focus of the economic recovery.
The October budget and post-COVID-19 stimulus package must invest in measures that rein in emissions and protect communities from intensifying climate impacts, such as:
- Upgrading the grid to bring more solar, wind, and storage online, and help establish the country's first offshore wind farm.
- Bringing forward the Victorian Renewable Energy Target of 50% by 2030 to 2025, and establish a new target of 100% renewables by 2030.
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Funding the installation of rooftop solar and storage on all public buildings such as schools, hospitals, libraries, fire stations, and SES facilities.
- Retrofitting public libraries, schools, community centres, neighbourhood houses, and sporting clubs to become Climate Emergency Refuge Centres in times of crisis.
- Building new, high-performance public housing for vulnerable people in our community.
- Investing in a new fleet of Victorian-made trains, trams, and electric buses.
- Upgrading the public transport network to improve accessibility for everyone in the community.
Investing in measures that tackle the climate crisis create jobs and deliver broad economic benefit. This is why we call on your government to make the achievement of science-based Emissions Reduction Targets a mission that drives our economic recovery.
Finally, we call on your government to rule out using public money to bail out fossil fuel corporations and extractive industries. Public investment should support communities, not companies responsible for accelerating the climate crisis and trashing the natural world.