‘NSW is burning’: Thousands protest in Sydney
12 December 2019
Published by https://www.news.com.au
AUSTRALIA – Crowds outside Sydney’s Town Hall are growing as climate change protesters have begun taking aim at Australia’s leaders in their speeches and chants.
Organisers have claimed more than 20,000 attended the rally.
We can’t confirm those numbers, but pictures from the scene show massive crowds.
Firefighters union representative Leighton Dury told the crowd that as a firey for 20 years, he was qualified to say these are “the worst fires we have had in decades”.
“Our members are saving lives, property, wildlife, stock and pets. Our members are spread thing. They are also responding to their regular work. It is this Government, the NSW Government, who have failed,” he said.
“We have got no water and a state and country that is in drought. We need a government that takes action.”
Climate activist Gavin Stanbrook said the people in power were “wedded to digging every ounce of coal out of the grounds”.
“What a disgrace!” he said.
“It is the 1 per cent and we need to fight them. What this tells us is that we cannot relyon Scott Morrison in the same way we can’t rely on Anthony Albanese.
“We have to rely on ourselves, on protests like this. When we come together and right, we can win.”
An Extinction Rebellion member, whose family home burnt down in the recent bushfires, told the crowd Australia was in “those climate change feedback loops we have been warned about”.
“We are well and truly living the climate emergency right now. We are already needing to seriously think about adapting to a climate with a lack of water, hot temperatures, smoke and fire,” she said.
“It’s completely insane. Unbelievably insane and really scary. There is massive denial in this country. It is clear the Government isn’t going to change their course by choice, so it is up to us to get way more loud and active.”
