In July news, anti-protest email action, climate adapt map storytelling launch, Mt Stirling forest weekend, Backcountry film festival, koala inquiry e-petition, 80 years since Hiroshima vigil, Victoria's electrifying future, Corner Inlet call for assessment, new buses rollout, PFAS guidelines, plus more!
Protect our Rights to Protest email action
The Victorian Parliament is to introduce a proposed suite of policies that would criminalise protestors under the guise of ‘combating extremism’. We've launched an email action to push back. Please have a look and send an email today!
80 years since Hiroshima commemoration morning vigil 6 August
August 6 2025 marks 80 years since the most destructive bomb in history was dropped on Hiroshima. 80 years and the effects are still fest by survivors and their families to this day. As part of a global week of action to commemorate the terrible atomic bombings in Japan and to collectively remember that something like this should never happen again. Join us in Naarm (Melbourne) for a day of commemoration. Reflect on 80 years since Hiroshima commemoration morning vigil 6 August info & RSVP here.
Climate Adapt Map Storytelling Launch
Act on Climate collective is officially launching its Australian Climate Adaptation Map website, and you are invited! Join us in-person or online for a night of storytelling and music to celebrate our collaborative Climate Adaptation Map Storytelling launch from 6.30pm 31 July at FoE Cafe & Food Co-op RSVP here.
Weekend of connection, community, and conservation at King Saddle Hut, Mount Stirling
Join us for a weekend of connection, community, and conservation at King Saddle Hut, Mount Stirling 1-3 August. Walk through beautiful alpine bushland, learn from local ecologists about the current and emerging threats facing these fragile ecosystems. Info & rego here.
Come along in-person or online to our Forest Collective meeting 6pm 11 July RSVP here.
Please sign the Vic Parliamentary e-petition here calling for an inquiry into koala management practices and the impact of the blue gum industry.
Backcountry Film Festival 2025
A winter staple in Melbourne since 2011, the Backcountry Film Festival is all about celebrating the spirit of adventure and life in the snow. Put together by the legends at Winter Wildlands Alliance and this year’s line-up is packed with inspiring stories from the winter backcountry. Get your tix to the Backcountry Film Festival (no allocated seating so get in early to reserve your spot).
Demand a proper environmental assessment of ExxonMobil's activities in Corner Inlet
ExxonMobil's decommissioning campaign is the first of its size to occur in Australia. In coming years, more and more offshore infrastructure will need to be decommissioned. Any decisions made here in Victoria will set precedents for all future decommissioning. Victoria's Minister for Planning has the power and the responsibility to get it right. Read more & take action.
Victoria’s energy future is electrifying!
The Victorian Government has announced a suite of regulations which will continue the work of significantly reducing the use of fossil gas statewide for rentals, newly built privately owned homes and newly built commercial buildings including schools and hospitals.
At a time of rising energy bills and an intensifying cost of living crisis, these reforms will directly improve financial circumstances for many residential and commercial bill payers statewide. Friends of the Earth Melbourne has long campaigned for policy reforms which directly drive the use of gas down to zero in Victoria, and prioritise energy justice with the 2022 release of our Community Gas Retirement Roadmap and the 2024 release of Saving Rental Energy reports. Victoria is far and beyond the heaviest domestic gas using state or territory per capita in Australia. Today’s announcement from the Allan Government is a powerful step towards a fully renewable energy future for Victoria. Read more.
Get across the Global Wind Day 2025 wrap here.
Read all about New Drinking Water Guidelines for PFAS chemicals informed by Friends of the Earth’s database of PFAS detections.
Rollout of new bus contracts response
On 1 July 2025 the Victorian Government kicked off their new zero-emission bus contracts which cover one-third of bus routes in metropolitan Melbourne. The new contracts see routes previously operated by Ryans, Kastoria and Panorama being taken over by Dysons, CDC Victoria and Kinetic, as well as many Dysons routes being shuffled around to CDC. Unfortunately, these are many of the same infrequent and indirect routes that have failed Melburnians for decades.
This has been a missed opportunity for the government to undertake transformational route reform in the new contract regions. These large companies have all the resources and capability to execute significant route reform, yet the government has once again forgotten to act to fulfil their own bus plan. True transformative change would have meant buses finally running at a frequency and on straightforward routes that actually meet the needs of the rapidly growing communities of the west.
There is, however, one bright spot. A few direct main-road bus routes in Wyndham have started running longer hours and more frequently since the 1st of July. They are routes 170, 180, 190 and 192, with operating hours extended to midnight and frequencies improved on weekends. Read more.
Join the Food Co-op & Cafe
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