Pages tagged "Media Release"
MEDIA RELEASE: West Coast Calls for Funding Community-Led Climate Adaptation
October 23, 2024
West Coast calls for the Victorian Government to fund Community-Led Climate Adaptation
The Victorian government is running an Inquiry into Climate Resilience, which is looking into the preparedness of communities facing climate disasters across the state. The submissions stage of the Resilience Inquiry process is closed, and the committee undertaking the Inquiry is now conducting hearings.
The fourth of these hearings was in Aireys Inlet at the Aireys Inlet Community Centre on 23 October 2024. At the event, local government, Victorian Marine and Coastal Council, local business, Barwon South West Climate Alliance, Corangamite Catchment Management Authority (CMA), Aireys Inlet and District Association, and others spoke to the Legislative Council Environment and Planning Committee about local climate resilience. The following West Coast communities were represented at the hearing: Geelong, Bellarine Peninsula, Surf Coast, and Port Fairy.
Before going into the hearing, local community members gathered outside to show support for government funding of community-led climate adaptation. They held up a banner with the words ‘Fund Community Climate Resilience’ on it.
“To prepare for locked-in climate impacts, we need adequate and ongoing funding for community-led adaptation work. This funding will enable communities to fulfil their plans to build resilient communities in a changing climate and keep those most at risk safe,” Vicky Ellmore, Act on Climate Community Organiser, said.
Friends of the Earth Melbourne’s Act on Climate collective has been ensuring community members' voices are heard through this Inquiry, both their concerns and the solutions they want to see enacted. The collective is calling for the committee to recommend a Victorian Community Climate Adaptation Fund (VCCAF). The fund would distribute money annually to community groups that apply to undertake localised adaptation initiatives.
Over three quarters (83.75%) of submissions to the Inquiry called for increased funding in climate adaptation, with half (49.58%) calling for ongoing funding and over a third (39.58%) calling for Act on Climate’s VCCAF specifically.
In their submissions to the Inquiry into Climate Resilience, people from the West Coast shared their concerns around sea level rise and storm surges, heat, bushfires, flooding, reduced rainfall, and storms. In addition, there is concern about beaches no longer being accessible, especially for older and disabled people, because of coastal erosion, as well as local wildlife being killed due to sea water infiltrating the groundwater in the freshwater lakes. Quotes from local submissions include:
“The region is already facing considerable risks due to climate change and, regardless of changes in emissions, those risks will increase for at least the next two decades. In particular, our region will need to build resilience to the increased frequency and intensity of heatwaves and bushfire risk, reduced rainfall, more intense rainfall events, rising sea levels and increased coastal inundation.”
“Our communities are confronting an array of climate related challenges, from intensifying bushfires and floods to searing heatwaves, with scant resilience or preparedness evident across multiple strata. Particularly concerning is the vulnerability of marginalised groups within our midst, who often bear the brunt of these disasters. Adapting to the realities of a changing climate necessitates a concerted effort towards bolstering community resilience and fostering localised adaptation processes. To fortify our communities against the onslaught of climate disasters, we must prioritise the needs of those most susceptible to harm. This includes highlighting the vulnerabilities of elderly residents, low-income families, Indigenous communities, and others who face disproportionate risks. It is imperative that the Government takes a proactive stance in assisting communities to build resilience and navigate local adaptation processes.”
“The imperative to enhance our community's readiness and resilience in the face of climate emergencies cannot be overstated. By championing policies that prioritise the needs of all residents and foster inclusive, locally-driven solutions, we can strive towards a more resilient and sustainable future for the City of Greater Geelong and Surf Coast Shire.”
In their submissions, the actions and solutions locals along the West Coast are calling for include:
- increase community awareness of the implications of sea level rise and storm surge, and other climate impacts through community education,
- identify and disseminate information on best practice adaptation measures,
- provide consistent, timely, and adequate climate data and coastal hazard assessments,
- a long-term strategic co-investment plan for the removal, relocation, renewal, or maintenance of coastal assets,
- substantive provision of shade and cool places,
- planning system reform that directs development away from flood-prone areas,
- support vulnerable households in making essential home upgrades such as draught proofing, insulation, and energy-efficient appliances,
- maintain and increase urban greening,
- greater collaboration and alignment between levels of government,
- Indigenous rangers reestablishing the practice of traditional fire management on both public and private land,
- a clear and ongoing climate adaptation pathway in government through a senior ministerial position,
- updating of state-wide flood, inundation, and sea-level rise benchmarks and updating of overlays and planning provisions,
- establish a process, to be determined and driven by Traditional Owners, that allows for the loss of cultural values and Country to be addressed, and
- provide a realistic and appropriate level of ongoing funding.
“Communities know what climate adaptation plans and projects are most needed and relevant for them, but they are not getting the support they urgently need to implement them. They are looking to the state government for leadership and assistance to adapt to climate impacts,” said Ms Ellmore.
“While the Vic Government has undertaken adaptation planning work, this has not been sufficiently acted on and has not been backed up with ongoing funding to prepare communities for the climate impacts forecast to affect Victoria. Every step we take to help communities adapt to now unavoidable climate impacts secures a safer future and builds resilience, protecting people and Country.”
IMAGE: Community photo taken outside the Aireys Inlet Resilience Inquiry hearing with Act on Climate’s Fund Community Climate Resilience banner
MORE INFORMATION ON AoC’s VCCAF: https://www.melbournefoe.org.au/budget_2025-26_proposals_climate_adaptation
CONTACT:
Vicky Ellmore, Community Organiser, Act on Climate collective, Friends of the Earth Melbourne
[email protected]
0424 687 809
Join the call for A Community Climate Adaptation Fund for Victoria by adding your name to our petition
MEDIA RELEASE: Dandenong Ranges Community Feeling Urgency of Climate Preparedness
October 10, 2024
Dandenong Ranges calls for the Victorian Government to fund Community-Led Climate Adaptation
The Victorian government is running an Inquiry into Climate Resilience, which is looking into the preparedness of communities facing climate disasters across the state. The submissions stage of the Resilience Inquiry process is closed, and the committee undertaking the Inquiry is now conducting hearings.
The third of these hearings was in Emerald at the Lakeside Centre on 10 October 2024. At the event, local councils, emergency support groups and businesses, Emerald Community House Centre of Resilience, and others spoke to the Legislative Council Environment and Planning Committee about local climate resilience. Concerned members of the Dandenong Ranges, Greater Dandenong, and wider South East Melbourne community went along to hear them speak.
Before going into the hearing, community members gathered outside to show support for government funding of community-led climate adaptation. They held up a banner with the words ‘Fund Community Climate Resilience’ on it.
“To prepare for locked-in climate impacts, we need adequate and ongoing funding for community-led adaptation work. This funding will enable communities to fulfil their plans to build resilient communities in a changing climate and keep those most at risk safe,” Vicky Ellmore, Act on Climate Community Organiser, said.
Friends of the Earth Melbourne’s Act on Climate collective has been ensuring community members' voices are heard through this Inquiry, both their concerns and the solutions they want to see enacted. The collective is calling for the committee to recommend a Victorian Community Climate Adaptation Fund (VCCAF). The fund would distribute money annually to community groups that apply to undertake localised adaptation initiatives.
Over three quarters (83.75%) of submissions to the Inquiry called for increased funding in climate adaptation, with half (49.58%) calling for ongoing funding and over a third (39.58%) calling for Act on Climate’s VCCAF specifically.
In their submissions to the Inquiry into Climate Resilience, people from the Dandenong Ranges shared their concerns around the bushfires and storm events the area has experienced. In addition, locals are concerned about the isolation of people in the Dandenong Ranges when power supply and communication is disrupted and roads close. Quotes from local submissions include:
“[The second severe storm event in 2024] following so soon after the 2021 created alarm and an increased sense of urgency. It challenged the Emerald community to think and act differently. The ferocity of the event, the destruction and failure of multiple infrastructure services, the widespread impact on the functioning of the community and the apparent unpreparedness of so many people, businesses, and relevant authorities and agencies to cope, raised the inadequacy of the current arrangements.
“The ongoing threat of bushfire and the overall vulnerability of communities in the Dandenong Ranges to power and internet outages, the closure of roads, the potential isolation of towns and individual households and the high level 5 of reliance on motor vehicles were brought dramatically to light. No longer was it an option to sit back as a community and wait for action.”
“With Community Climate Adaptation Funding our local community would be empowered to identify dangers and risks present in a changing climate and better respond to preparation needs before disasters strike.”
In their submissions the actions and solutions Dandenong Ranges locals are calling for include:
- information and education on what resources are available in an emergency and how they will be deployed, as well as on resilience plans, strategies, and communication plans for before, during and after climate impacts and disasters,
- local community resilience plans,
- undergrounding of power lines and local energy and telecommunications security
- hazard tree inspections and improved vegetation management, and
- funding for local adaptation initiatives, such as community emergency hubs in Hills townships, emergency information kits for distribution to the community, and energy backup systems.
In their submissions the actions and solutions Greater Dandenong locals are calling for include:
- the preservation and expansion of green spaces for urban cooling,
- strong minimum standards for rental housing and improving energy ratings for new homes to ensure they are thermally and environmentally safe,
- updated flood mapping and no new developments in areas impacted by flooding,
- better management of the water load on the drainage systems,
- neighbourhood batteries,
- enhanced public transport with localised routes and walkable suburbs,
- localisation rather than centralisation in food, jobs, services, and education,
- address the current lack of culturally diverse voices in the climate adaptation and resilience discussion, and
- a significant general increase of funding from the Victorian Government to local councils, community service organisations, emergency service providers and community groups.
“Communities know what climate adaptation plans and projects are most needed and relevant for them, but they are not getting the support they urgently need to implement them. They are looking to the state government for leadership and assistance to adapt to climate impacts,” said Ms Ellmore.
“While the government has undertaken adaptation planning work, this has not been sufficiently acted on and has not been backed up with ongoing funding to prepare communities for the climate impacts forecast to affect Victoria. Every step we take to help communities adapt to now unavoidable climate impacts secures a safer future and builds resilience, protecting people and Country.”
IMAGE: Community photo outside the Emerald Resilience Inquiry hearing with Fund Community Climate Resilience banner
CONTACT:
Vicky Ellmore
Community Organiser, Act on Climate collective, Friends of the Earth Melbourne
0424 687 809
Join the call for A Community Climate Adaptation Fund for Victoria by adding your name to our petition
Communities rejoice and whales sing as TGS seismic blasting plan scrapped
Seismic blasting multinational TGS announced this morning that they have decided not to proceed with the Otway blasting plan, withdrawing from NOPSEMA assessment.
Under the proposal, TGS were to blast the Otway Basin off the west coast of Victoria with 250 decibels of noise - louder than an atomic bomb - every 10 seconds, 24 hours a day for months on end to search for new oil and gas reserves. When they first submitted their proposal to the Government Management Authority their plan was for the largest seismic blasting proposal in the world covering a footprint of 7.7 million hectares. Over two and a half years of community pressure the scope of the project was reduced to cover a shrinking area until finally today they have withdrawn their application.
Read moreMEDIA RELEASE - Don't believe the hype: Victoria can halve gas use with electric heating
Media reports today that Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan has “backflipped” on a ban on cooktops are inaccurate and an unhelpful distraction from gas heaters which guzzle half of the gas used in Victoria and the pipeline system which leaks more gas than is used in cooking statewide.
Read moreMEDIA RELEASE: Timely Traralgon Climate Resilience Inquiry hearing
September 4, 2024
Gippsland community calls for the Vic Government to fund Community-Led Climate Adaptation
The Victorian Government is running an Inquiry into Climate Resilience, which is looking into the preparedness of communities facing climate disasters across the state. The submissions stage of the Resilience Inquiry process is closed, and the committee undertaking the Inquiry is now conducting hearings.
The first of these hearings was in Traralgon at the Century Inn on 3 September 2024, while Gippsland was still recovering from intense storms and havoc-wrecking winds due to climate change. At the event, local councils, Gippsland environment groups, associate professors, farming representatives, and others spoke to the Legislative Council Environment and Planning Committee about local climate resilience. Concerned members of the Gippsland community went along to hear them speak.
Before going into the hearing, community members gathered outside to show support for government funding of community-led climate adaptation. They held up a banner with the words ‘Fund Community Climate Resilience’ on it. Many community members who wished to attend this hearing to show support for more funding of climate adaptation were unable to due to impacts from the recent storm surges and intense winds.
“To prepare for locked-in climate impacts, we need adequate and ongoing funding for community-led adaptation work. This funding will enable communities to fulfil their plans to build resilient communities in a changing climate and keep those most at risk safe,” Vicky Ellmore, Act on Climate Community Organiser, said.
Friends of the Earth Melbourne’s Act on Climate has been ensuring community members' voices are heard through this Inquiry, both their concerns and the solutions they want to see enacted. The collective is calling for the committee to recommend a Victorian Community Climate Adaptation Fund (VCCAF). The fund would distribute money annually to community groups that apply to undertake localised adaptation initiatives.
In their submissions to the Inquiry into Climate Resilience, people from Gippsland have shared their concerns around the unprecedented heatwaves, bushfires, storms, winds, drought, and flooding Gippsland has experienced. In addition, the isolation of people in Gippsland when power supply and communication is disrupted, the reluctance to engage in discussions about preparation and adaptation, and sea-level rise are concerning locals.
“Governments are far from ready to deal with the compounding consequences of new disasters occurring faster than we can recover from previous ones,” one Gippsland resident noted in their submission.
“While climate change poses grave dangers to us all, it is the youth of today who are at greatest long-term risk. In Gippsland, their young lives have already been impacted by heatwaves, bushfires and floods. Some have seen their homes destroyed. Many have witnessed local bushland and wildlife devastated by fire, and all live with fear and uncertainty as they face the future on a warming planet.”
In their submissions the actions and solutions Gippsland locals are calling for include:
- strengthened development planning and building regulations that take account of a changing climate,
- assistance to enable people, especially those most at risk, to retrofit their homes to cope with climate extremes,
- much greater financial support to our firefighting capabilities,
- inform, update, and better engage with people about the climate challenges ahead and ensure more conversations around climate change readiness, involving local communities in disaster preparedness plans,
- investment in training of many more young people for work that will be required to transition and adapt our communities, and
- funding for local adaptation initiatives, such as warning systems, housing insulation, emergency accommodation and support via mutual aid systems, localised power grids for isolated towns, disaster-proof safe refuges, on-ground action to manage coastline erosion.
“Communities know what climate adaptation plans and projects are most needed and relevant for them, but they are not getting the support they urgently need to implement them. They are looking to the state government for leadership and assistance to adapt to climate impacts,” said Ms Ellmore.
“While the government has undertaken adaptation planning work, this has not been sufficiently acted on and has not been backed up with ongoing funding to prepare communities for the climate impacts forecast to affect Victoria. Every step we take to help communities adapt to now unavoidable climate impacts secures a safer future and builds resilience, protecting people and Country.”
Join the call for A Community Climate Adaptation Fund for Victoria by adding your name to our petition
State budget continues clean energy transition, but risks forest conflict
Friends of the Earth (FoE) - response to Victorian state budget 2024/25
As expected, this was a state budget focused strongly on cost of living pressures, with emphasis on assisting families, and continued investment in public infrastructure including training, education and health.
As such, expectations in the realm of environment and energy had been very modest, and as expected there were no major new projects announced in this budget. The energy measures outlined in the budget are generally a ‘business as usual’ continuation of existing positive policy and previous commitments. We welcome the commitment to review the Victorian Energy Upgrades program and support VicGrid’s transmission planning reforms. Progress on the development of onshore and offshore renewable energy will continue, with funding to assist in mitigating the biodiversity impacts of these projects.
Offshore wind gathers momentum as feasibility licences awarded in Gippsland
MEDIA RELEASE 1 May 2024
Today Federal Climate and Energy Minister Chris Bowen has announced a major step forward for offshore wind in Australia, granting feasibility licences for six projects in Victoria’s Gippsland region.
This includes a feasibility licence for Star of the South, a visionary offshore wind project that has been proposed for several years, capturing the imagination of people in Gippsland as the region’s coal fired power stations begin to close.
Environmental justice group Friends of the Earth welcomes the announcement, saying offshore wind will make a major contribution to action on climate change while creating thousands of jobs.
Read more$1 billion in renewable energy projects as AGL confirms a closure date by 2035.
Media release. August 21, 2023
Today, the Victorian Minister for Energy and Resources, Lily D'Ambrosio, announced that the government is investing $1 billion in renewable energy projects to deliver 4.5 gigawatts of power, equivalent to the output of the Loy Yang A power station. Friends of the Earth has welcomed this announcement and appreciates the role that the State Electricity Commission (SEC) will play in transforming the energy sector.
The minister, alongside AGL power company, also confirmed the 2035 closure date for the power station and a structured transition plan for affected workers. This will help ensure certainty for the Gippsland community. However, the plan allows for an earlier closure if Loy Yang A is no longer needed in the energy market.
Read moreMEDIA RELEASE: Victoria's new Emissions Reduction Target of 75-80% by 2035 set to become law
May 16, 2023
Friends of the Earth welcomes today’s news that the Andrews government has locked in its new Emissions Reduction Target of 75-80% by 2035, now set to become law.
The Andrews government committed to the target ahead of the 2022 state election, along with pledges to re-establish the State Electricity Commission and set a target of 95% renewable energy generation by 2035.
‘Victoria’s strong new 2035 Emissions Reduction Target reflects how much the pace of climate action has accelerated in recent years, and will energise communities to keep advocating for more ambition,’ said Friends of the Earth climate campaigner Anna Langford.
‘This big step up on climate ambition is a jump of 30% from our 2030 Emissions Reduction Target of 45-50%, and indicates what is possible with smart, forward-thinking policies.’
The target has been tabled in parliament today, and is now officially part of Victoria’s Climate Change Act (2017), which charts Victoria’s course to the goal of net-zero emissions by 2045.
Friends of the Earth says the 2035 target being tied to the re-establishment of the State Electricity Commission is hugely significant for Victoria’s Latrobe Valley community.
‘The privatisation of Victoria’s electricity system in the 1990s wreaked havoc in the Latrobe Valley, and the community has faced uncertainty about the future ever since,’ said Friends of the Earth's Gippsland Organiser, Wendy Farmer.
‘It’s exciting to see the Victorian government setting ambitious targets backed by investment in public electricity generation, which will create thousands of good local jobs,’ said Ms Farmer.
Friends of the Earth says the next steps for Victoria are to accelerate the phaseout of the state’s reliance on polluting fossil gas, immediately transition out of native forest logging (which contributed over 3 million tonnes of carbon pollution in 2021), and plan for the emerging needs of communities which are on the front lines of the first climate impacts.
‘Collective action by communities around Victoria has secured strong policy that is delivering significant emissions cuts. The Victorian government should continue to engage with communities in forming future policies to deepen emissions cuts and adapt to locked-in impacts,’ said Friends of the Earth climate spokesperson Aleesha Hanczakowski.
Delburn Wind Farm gets the validation it deserves
MEDIA RELEASE 27/03/2023
Friends of the Earth welcomes the Supreme Court's decision that the Delburn wind farm is valid and can go ahead. The Delburn project will be the first wind farm in the Latrobe Valley, it will also be the first wind farm built in a plantation in Australia.
Building a wind farm in a plantation site is an effective way to protect the natural environment as the plantation is already a highly modified industrial site. Hopefully the court's decision today puts the false claims about this project to rest.
Read more