Australian kids just made history:

The Federal Court of Australia has enshrined more climate protection for our children into law.

On July 8, Judge Bromberg confirmed that the Federal Environment Minister has a duty of care to avoid causing personal injury and death to Australian children from carbon emissions when approving a coal extension project (Sharma v Minister for the Environment). 

But that protection for our children is now under threat.

The Federal Government has signaled its intention to appeal the declaration and to avoid its duty of care to protect Aussie kids from injury or death from climate change. 

Eight kids won this declaration for all Australian children alive today. Now they need our support.

We must defend the rights of children not to suffer injury or death from climate change as a result of any government intent on approving new fossil fuel projects. If Australian families show their support, we can demonstrate the public mandate is for the government to support this declaration and not to waste public funds in fighting it.

Demand the Federal Environment Minister support the rights of children to be protected from climate harm and to wholeheartedly apply this lawful duty of care in all decisions made by the Environment Minister.

21 May 2021

Thousands of parents and grandparents around Australia are being schooled by student Climate Strikers, at colourful local events calling for climate action.

Suzie Brown, mother and National Director of Australian Parents for Climate Action said: “Australian parents are joining their kids to take the day off work and school to attend the Climate Strikes today. The School Strike 4 Climate leaders are still teenagers, but they are showing Australian adults what leadership on climate change looks like.”

“As parents we have to be there in solidarity with our kids who, let’s face it, are going to be the ones to really bear the brunt of more droughts, storms and fires if we don’t act on the dire science warnings about climate change,” said Brown.

We have local AP4CA groups across all Australian states and territories, where parents get together to support, inform and empower each on climate, take action and have fun!

Check out the locations below. They're welcoming and supportive, and would love to meet you online or in person! 

If there is no local group near you listed here, please email us to see if we can connect you with local parents who want to take action on climate.

Or perhaps you'd like to start a group in your local area? We'd love to support you.

You can also post in our very active national Facebook group to find other parents in your area.

Join us in fighting for climate solutions!

We are 14,000 + concerned parents like you who want our government and big business to take more action on climate.

Together we advocate for positive solutions, aiming for a safer future for our children.

- Simple, parent-friendly actions you can do to make a difference on climate: personally, local and through widespread change.

- Invitations to join free events like the Climate Strike, Solar Our Schools actions and local climate action gatherings, including crafter-noons, climate related play dates and coffee meet ups!

- Support being a parent, carer or teacher in a changing climate.

- Be part of a community of parents who are actively pushing solutions to climate change!

Join us in fighting for climate solutions!

We are 14,000 + concerned parents like you who want our government and big business to take more action on climate.

Together we advocate for positive solutions, aiming for a safer future for our children.

We need your help to make a colourful, memorable impact on Federal Education Minister Alan Tudge to get him on board our Solar Our Schools campaign — to install solar panels and batteries at every school and preschool in Australia.

Australian Parents for Climate Action lodged a Pre-Budget Submission to the Federal government to include funding for Solar Our Schools in the May 2021 budget, and many of our supporters wrote a personal submission in support of Solar Our Schools — thank you, legends!

But so far our requests for Federal funding for Solar Our Schools, and our request for a meeting with Minister Tudge, have fallen on deaf ears, so we need to make sure he can hear the voices of the 11,000-plus parents and children across Australia who support Solar Our Schools!

Insiders tell us that letters and artwork from children make it to the top of the pile of Ministers' correspondence — so your kids artwork will get noticed in a way that letters from us adults won't!

Here’s how you can help:

1. Make a Time to Shine artwork with your child (check out our inspiration board below)

Create a sun artwork with a “sun clock” theme to convey the message to Minister Tudge that the clock is ticking on the need to reduce our carbon emissions, and we need him to advocate for funding Solar Our Schools! 

Older kids can write a letter — or make a TikTok video! — explaining why Solar Our Schools is a no-brainer. Here are some points they could mention:

• Solar and batteries on every school and preschool in Australia will lower school energy costs, create local jobs and lower carbon emissions!
• The Federal Government has fallen behind the states on renewable energy infrastructure investment. It’s time for the Federal Government to come to the party and shine on our schools!
• With a Federal election and the Glasgow COP26 conference both looming, now is the time for our Federal government to invest in renewable energy infrastructure that reduces our carbon emissions and creates green jobs across Australia!

2. Send your Time to Shine creations to Federal Education Minister Alan Tudge

Hon Alan Tudge MP

Minister for Education and Youth

PO Box 6022

House of Representatives

Parliament House

Canberra ACT 2600

(02) 6277 7350

[email protected] 

NB: If you are sending Minister Tudge your Time to Shine artwork or letters in the mail, take a photo of them before you send them off. 

3. Share your Time to Shine creations with us

Share photos of your artwork and letters and/or your videos on social media with the hashtags #SolarOurSchools and #TimetoShine, and our handle @ap4ca. 

If you want to tag Minister Tudge, his handles are: @tudgeMP (Facebook), @alan_tudge (Instagram) and @AlanTudgeMP (Twitter).

Also, please email them to [email protected] for us to share with our supporters so we can encourage others to send a message to Minister Tudge!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

28 JANUARY 2021

AUSTRALIAN PARENTS for Climate Action has renewed calls for the Federal Government to prioritise funding for solar panels on every school and early childhood education centre in Australia, ahead of the deadline for public submissions for the next Federal Budget.

Follow our guide and make a submission to get Solar Our Schools in the next Federal Budget.

The Australian Treasury is now accepting public submissions to advise the make up of the next Federal Government budget in May. This is our chance to show how much support there is across Australia for Solar Our Schools. The more people who make a submission, the louder our message is.

You can make a submission in 3 easy steps.

1. Download our guide here.

2. Make your submission through the government's public online submission portal here.

3. Please notify us that you have made a submission - email [email protected]

 Pre-Budget Submissions close on 29 January 2021. 

Background: In September 2020 Australian Parents for Climate Action delivered the Solar Our Schools open letter to Prime Minister Scott Morrison, signed by more than 11,000 Australian parents, asking him to fund fund solar and batteries for every school and early childhood centre in Australia as part of the October COVID-19 recovery budget.

But PM Scott Morrison failed to respond to the 11,000 parents who signed the Solar Our Schools open letter; and the Federal Government failed to invest in renewable energy in the October COVID-19 recovery budget.

Australian Parents for Climate Action are now asking our supporters to formally submit to the Treasury to request funding for Solar Our Schools in the next federal budget.

Solar Our Schools is a shovel-ready initiative that will:

- Create at least 6,870 renewable energy jobs in all regions of Australia.

- Slash school energy bills which frees up more funds for learning resources and teaching wages, saving large schools $114,000 in energy bills per year and small schools $12,700 per year  (Beyond Zero Emissions).

- Save millions of tonnes of carbon emissions per year.

By combining solar and batteries, Solar Our Schools also allows schools and early childhood centres to act as Virtual Power Plants, giving communities access to a local, de-centralised power source; providing resilience in the face of climate emergencies like extreme weather events. These virtual power plants would also help to stabilise our whole electricity grid.

If every school and early learning centre in Australia got solar and batteries, the battery systems alone would store enough power to replace the power generation provided by the Liddell coal-powered electricity station in NSW.