How to speak to decision makers about sustainable and accessible transport issues facing Victoria:

Use these resources to effectively engage your MP in transport issues that affect you.

We're fighting for a liveable, fairer and more connected city. We want to see more investment in public transport like Melbourne Metro 2 (MM2), no new major roads, and better infrastructure for active travel.

Friends of the Earth podcast history series made in collaboration with 3CR 855 AM community radio show Acting Up! 
Monday 2.00pm-2.30pm.  Ratbags, peaceniks and agents of change, resistance radio that explores the movements that made us. 

45 years of Acting Up! Talking tactics from lobbying to locking on audio episode

Listen up mp3

Presenter: Phil Evans
Guests: Mara Bonacci, Merryn Redenbach

Protestors converge on Hazelwood coal power station 2009

For over 45 years, Friends of the Earth has lobbied to influence government policies campaigning on environmental and social justice issues.  Direct actions have involved a toilet sit-in, a Tahiti ketch voyage, a giant inflatable whale, scaling infrastructure and banner drops.  Blockades, bike rides and road trips maintain resistance, convergence, community education, occupations and media spread the word.  Discover Friends of the Earth’s winning strategies and tenacious tactics lobbying and locking on from the 1970s onwards.

This role would be a temporary addition to the Operations Collective to Friends of the Earth Melbourne, who also serve as the Secretariat for Friends of the Earth Australia. The role is to project manage our finance system upgrade for both Friends of the Earth Australia and Melbourne. They will work in direct collaboration with the Operations Collective to project manage the design and implementation of the system.

The Quit Coal collective has successfully campaigned with local community groups to secure a total ban on unconventional gas mining, like fracking, in Victoria. We have also helped fight off new coal mines in Bacchus Marsh and Mirboo North and worked as part of a coalition to stop a new coal-fired power station being built in the Latrobe Valley.

But the climate is still changing, communities are still being exploited and deceived by the fossil fuel industry and we’re ready for a new challenge. That’s where you come in! We’ve got plans around taking on energy companies, supporting the fight against fracking and coal around Australia, and we’re seeking a coordinator to help get us on track for more success.

In conjunction with the Quit Coal collective volunteers and the Friends of the Earth team,  the Quit Coal Coordinator will work to:

• convene and help facilitate an effective collective process;

• re-engage our supporter base and drive engagement; and

• maintain and grow our financial supporters and foster new relationships.

Friends of the Earth Melbourne kicked off the first of our Summer Stalls at Stacks On Festival at CERES on Saturday 14 January. Over the summer, we’ll be visiting a number of festivals across Melbourne and surrounds to connect with new members and let people know about our new Act on Climate Campaign.

Earlier this month Friends of the Earth Melbourne teamed up with ActionSkills and Reclamation Artists Warehouse to present 3 days of grassroots directed Digital Campaigning skills. The content covered campaign strategy, affecting effective digital pathways, social media implementation and digital story telling.

Practical skills for advocacy and campaigning 

Are you working on issues in your local community? Would you like to improve your skills to win better campaign outcomes?

This course takes place over one month and is designed to give a broad overview of skills needed to be an effective campaigner.  From community organising, to social media and fundraising, we will give you a great set of tools to take away, increasing your skills, and developing better capacity in the area you work.

This year Friends of the Earth Australia is turning 40! (Well, actually we're 41 but were too busy last year to organise a party).

Please join us to celebrate four decades of creative resistance and activism working towards environmental and social justice.

Friends of the Earth are under attack. But this is just the beginning of an ideological war by the government against all environmental groups. On the ABC 730 show aired April 10, Liberal MPs Alex Hawke and Matt Canavan singled out Friends of the Earth as the first of 150 groups they would like to see lose its charitable status. This would mean donations would no longer be tax deductible and as FoE stalwart Cam Walker points out, "this would basically mean the political death of our organisation."

The response was nothing short of AMAZING! After the airing of the show, #FriendOfFoE starting trending on Twitter in major cities around the country. But this is just the start of the fight. Here are 5 simple steps you can take to be a #FriendOfFoE: