What: FloodProof Australia block peak hour traffic
Where: King Street, Newtown
When: Happening now – 8 am 02/03/2022
Click here to see a video statement from FloodProof Australia:
https://fb.watch/bufKGeffGK/
I was watching video after video of my friends being rescued by boats from the roofs of their homes in Lismore. They’ve lost everything. It’s absolutely terrible. Where the bloody hell is our government? Where the bloody hell is our protection?
Sarah Edwards, a nurse from Lismore
Since the bushfires in 2019, the government keep promising things and they never deliver. So it’s down to the people to sort things out.
We are carrying out this act of civil resistance in order to force the federal government to address our three no-brainer demands to protect their citizens and Floodproof and Fireproof Australia by:
1. Securing a sovereign air tanker fleet to fight fires
2. Immediately re-homing flood and bush fire survivors and ensuring that no one is left behind – more than two years in tents and caravans is too long.
3. Installing effective air filters in schools, aged care and disability facilities
Why we need to Floodproof & Fireproof Australia:
We face “Cascading, compounding and aggregate impacts on cities, settlements, infrastructure, supply-chains and services due to wildfires, floods, droughts, heatwaves, storms and sea-level rise”
IPCC sixth assessment report, February 2022
“It’s like the bushfires have suddenly gone nuclear and we’ve only got conventional weapons.”
Greg Mullins, Former Fire and Rescue NSW Commissioner (AO, AFSM), September 2021
“80% of the population was affected by poor air quality during the 2019-2020 bushfires.”
Bushfire Royal Commission, October 2020
“If you’re under 30 years old and you’re exposed to this level of pollution, your cognitive function declines by the same amount as ageing by 15 years.”
Dr La Nauze, University of Queensland, November 2021
“What we do over the next three to four years, I believe, is going to determine the future of humanity.”
Professor Sir David King, former Chief Scientific Advisor to the UK government, February 2020
Floodproof Australia is made up of ordinary people from diverse backgrounds, who are beyond appalled by the government’s lack of care for its citizens. Floodproof Australia members feel the government has betrayed all of us by allowing more than two years to pass without actively rehoming the survivors of Black Summer who still live in tents and caravans across the continent.
Furthermore, the government has nothing in place to rehome the survivors of today’s and tomorrow’s climate disasters such as currently occurring in Lismore.
Handshakes, consoling words and photo ops are not acceptable – we need to ensure that everyone is immediately re-homed – no-one left behind!
Floodproof Australia is going to block Sydney’s major roads consistently and non-violently, week after week until the government meets our reasonable demands. We call upon fellow concerned Aussies to join us.
ENDS
Press contact: 0435 750 814
Email: fireproofaustraliamedia@gmail.com
High-quality photos and video footage are available here: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/1atqltvjk5te5w7/AAAuj718IrJ1zaeRuTFq3_S-a?dl=0
Website: https://fireproof.news/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FireproofAustralia
Twitter: https://twitter.com/fireproofaus
Notes to Editors:
[1] About Floodproof Australia.
Floodproof Australia is a politically unaffiliated group of ordinary citizens calling on our federal government to respond urgently to the climate crisis by rehoming the survivors of floods and fires and securing a sovereign air tanker fleet.
[2] Our demands:
Re-home the flood and bushfire survivors
The federal government must immediately re-home flood and bushfire survivors – no one left behind.
Fireproof Australia
The federal government must secure a self-sufficient, Australian-based and owned aerial firefighting fleet to defend us against longer fire seasons and the threat of mega fires.
Smoke-proof our schools, aged care and disability services
The state and federal government acts on their duty of care to protect us from toxic bushfire smoke. Starting with the young and vulnerable by ensuring that all schools, aged care and disability facilities have effective air conditioning and air filtration.
[3] Forget 2050, experts say it’s 2030 or bust for net zero emissions https://www.thecitizen.org.au/articles/forget-2050-experts-say-its-2030-or-bust-for-net-zero-emissions
[4] Air pollution clouds brain performance and workforce productivity, November 2021
https://www.uq.edu.au/news/article/2021/11/air-pollution-clouds-brain-performance-and-workforce-productivity
[5] ‘The world is burning’: how Australia’s longest-serving fire chief became a climate champion
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/sep/27/the-world-is-burning-how-australias-longest-serving-fire-chief-became-a-climate-champion
[6] Bushfire royal commission hears that Black Summer smoke killed nearly 450 people
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-05-26/bushfire-royal-commission-hearings-smoke-killed-445-people/12286094
[7] IPCC 6th Assessment report
https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg2/about/factsheets
Fireproof Australia ‘Blue Lights’ policy: our policy is, and has always been to move out of the way for ambulances and fire trucks with ‘blue lights’ on.