Last week, while Scott Morrison was busy making the Prime Minister of Tonga cry over Australia’s refusal to give up coal, some other climate news flew under the radar. Both Wollongong Council in New South Wales and Mornington Peninsula Shire Council in Victoria declared climate emergencies, bringing the total number of Australian councils to make this declaration to 33. Globally, around 800 councils have declared a climate emergency.
But does this declaration actually mean anything? Or have governments just found another way to look like they’re doing something?
There’s no solid answer, but it’s a symbolic gesture that could have a real impact. Firstly, declaring a climate emergency is not the same as declaring a state of emergency. A state of emergency can be called during something like a massive bushfire or terrorist event, and means that the government gets extra legal powers to fix whatever the emergency might be. Declaring a climate emergency doesn’t grant any extra powers to anybody, so from a legal point of view, it means pretty much zip. Unfortunately, governments know this.
Case in point, when Canada declared a climate emergency on June 18, people were stoked. They were less stoked when – the very next day – the Canadian government approved an oil pipeline that can move 600,000 barrels of oil every day.
Despite this, activist groups are still really pleased about the declarations by Wollongong Council and Mornington Peninsula Shire Council. As with improving anything, the first step is admitting there is a problem, and both Greenpeace and Extinction Rebellion have praised the leadership of all the councils who have declared a climate emergency so far. Sure, declaring a climate emergency is only symbolic, but the movement behind it certainly isn’t. People have been rallying in the streets for climate action, and to see this response from councils feels like a victory.
With every council that declares a climate emergency, more pressure is put on state and federal governments to do something. Unfortunately, hopes of the federal government doing much about the climate are not high.
The fallout of the Pacific Islands Forum has been dominating the headlines for the past week. Wollongong Council and Mornington Peninsula Shire Council declaring a climate emergency should have been big news, but instead we heard all about how Scott Morrison was trying to tell Pacific Island leaders that we shouldn’t get rid of coal, and how it’s totally great and definitely not the reason their island homes are going underwater.
And when Prime Minister of New Zealand, Jacinda Ardern, pointed out that Australia is doing a pretty garbage job of tackling climate change, Alan Jones came out with that charming “shove a sock down her throat” line (which, by the way, Morrison knows is definitely wrong because he has two daughters. But that’s an angry rant for another day).
The cherry on top was our Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack reckons that the Pacific Islanders will be fine because they pick our fruit.
Oh and Labor wouldn’t have done much differently btw.
How good is Australia’s performance on the international stage?
It’s very easy to get overwhelmed with the sheer scale of the climate crisis, and exhausting to watch the people in charge of Australia not do much about it. Individual councils declaring climate emergencies might not be the magic wand solution to fix the planet, but it’s a damn good place to start.