Bushfire survivors group calls for phasing out fossil fuels as a key demand

The CEO of Bushfire Survivors for Climate Action has highlighted five key asks in the fight against climate change.

Serena Joyner addressed the Climate Crisis Summit in Canberra, where she shared stories from people who had been on the front line of extreme weather events caused by climate change.

“We don’t need an imagination to know how bad it can get,” Ms Joyner said.

Ms Joyner said the phase out of fossil fuels was key to fighting climate crisis, expressing frustrations given what Australia had already been through.

“I hoped [the Black Summer bushfires] would be a wakeup call for Australia,” she said.

Climate scientist, Dr Sophie Lewis, who also addressed the summit, highlighted a “catalogue of climate change impacts” and said that things are only set to get worse unless there is urgent action.

As well as the Black Summer bushfires, Dr Lewis flagged flooding events in New South Wales and Queensland and the recent devastation caused by algal bloom in South Australia.

Ms Joyner spoke about the ongoing effects from extreme weather events, such as being unable to insure your home, or rebuild.

In July, co-CEO of the Australia Institute, Richard Denniss, wrote:

The scientific reality is that sea level rise and increased storm damage will make heavily populated parts of Australia uninhabitable, and the economic reality is that houses in those areas will be uninsurable.”

Ms Joyner said her organisation has a list of five asks:

1. Unite behind 1.5 degrees Celsius aligned climate target and put the politicisation of the climate crisis behind us
2. Stay the course on the renewable rollout and ensure the community benefits
3. Commit to a total phase out of fossil fuels and make a plan to do so
4. Invest deeply in communities and be guided by them so they can plan for and recover from future disasters (which we know are going to happen)
5. Raise the money required for the demands by making big corporations pay for the damage they are causing for their climate