Government rejects 100% renewables and refuses to declare a climate emergency

So what happened in Parliament this week?

The Victorian Government rejected our amendments on 100% renewables and refused to declare a climate emergency. This week the upper house passed a bill to increase the renewable energy target to 50% by 2030. We’re already on track to hit that target, we know that a 100% target is realistic, and 150,000 people called for one at the climate strike in September. We moved an amendment for 100% renewables by 2030, which was voted down by the big parties, as well as by Fiona Patten, Catherine Cumming and the Sustainable Australia Party. We also asked the premier this week if he will declare a climate emergency. He said no.

We released our refund on bottles and cans bill

We released the details of our bill for a refund on bottles and cans to the parliament and the public. Ellen Sandell and Samantha Ratnam did a press conference, highlighting the 52 organisations which called for a refund scheme in their submissions to parliament’s waste inquiry, and the fact that every other state and territory now has a scheme or is putting one in place.

We acknowledged the thousands of people speaking up through Extinction Rebellion and the Climate Strike

We tabled a motion to acknowledge the 150,000 Victorians who attended the student climate strike and the 111 people arrested in the Extinction Rebellion protests, while Samantha Ratnam reminded the parliament that big social change often starts with non-violent protest.

And more

We also spoke in the parliament about accessible tram stops in Sydney Road and a petition on logging, and paid tribute to Dr Penny Whetton, who was a renowned climate scientist and the wife of federal Greens MP Janet Rice. And we again asked about Crown Casino, this time after yet another whistle blower came forward highlighting dodgy practices. Plus we did the hard slog of every sitting week, researching a whole series of bills in order to vote in a well-informed way.