In this file photo, a dump truck takes waste material from a mine in Pilbara region, Australia, Dec. 14, 2016. (Xinhua/Matt Burgess)
Protesters are calling on the federal government to commit to no new coal, gas or oil projects, 100-percent renewable energy generation and exports by 2030 and funding for a just transition and job creation for all fossil-fuel industry workers and communities.
CANBERRA, Sept. 20 (Xinhua) -- Thousands of Australian students abandoned classes to attend global climate strikes across the country on Friday.
School and university students at more than 100 protests will be joined by trade unionists and employees from more than 2,000 companies and university academics.
Protesters are calling on the federal government to commit to no new coal, gas or oil projects, 100-percent renewable energy generation and exports by 2030 and funding for a just transition and job creation for all fossil-fuel industry workers and communities.
Australian Education Minister Dan Tehan has repeatedly declared that "politics should be kept out of the classroom."
"Students should be active citizens but their education shouldn't suffer as a result ... The true test of the protesters' commitment would be how many turned up for a protest held on a Saturday afternoon," he said in a statement earlier in September.
Despite similar government warnings, earlier protests in March attracted more than 150,000 people around the country.
Siobhan, 15, from Western Australia (WA), chose to attend the protest despite being told that she would automatically fail a maths test worth 25 percent of her overall grade if she missed school.
"I have basically been told that because it is not a valid reason to be missing school, it is not a medical reason or anything, I am going to get a zero on the test if I don't actually sit it," she told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC).
"Even though we ourselves aren't sick, the planet which we live on is, and we are protesting and fighting for it," Siobhan said.
"We are in the midst of a climate crisis, and Australia is in the thick of it," she said.
Protesters call for environmental protection with banners and slogans in Canberra, Australia, March 15, 2019. (Xinhua/Pan Xiangyue)
Figures released in August showed Australia's carbon emissions were continuing to climb.
Prior to the strikes more than 250 academics from Australian universities published an open letter saying that the government's inaction on climate change required civil disobedience.
"Australia's current climate policies and practices are dire," the letter said.
"When a government wilfully abrogates its responsibility to protect its citizens from harm and secure the future for generations to come, it has failed in its most essential duty of stewardship," the letter said.
Thousands of companies have signed an online registry pledging to either close their doors, extend lunch hours or give employees the day off to attend the protests.
The campaign was launched by superannuation fund Future Super with the aim of getting 50 employers to sign up but the number has soared past 2,200.
The founder of Future Super Simon Sheikh said that most of the companies who have signed up have never previously taken a stand on climate change.
"These are mainstream businesses, they're tech businesses, design companies, start-ups, there's a furniture store involved, retailers are involved, a lot of tradespeople, there are a number of doctors surgeries who are closing for the day or having long lunch breaks," he told The Sydney Morning Herald.
"Usually it's employees mobilizing collectively against and lobbying an employer, but now it's all of us standing together," he said. ■
