Thousands of Australian students have taken part in climate strikes across the country, voicing their anger at the federal government's new financial support for the gas industry.
Strikes on Friday - the first 'School Strike 4 Climate' events in Australia since the start of the coronavirus pandemic - were held in all capital cities, with the Sydney and Melbourne actions drawing particularly large crowds.
Events were also held outside the capital cities, in places ranging from Alice Springs and the Gold Coast, to the regional centre of Ballarat in Victoria and Western Australia's Geraldton.
The School Strike 4 Climate students have long called for a plan for net zero emissions and more renewable energy in Australia's power system, but have now turned attention to the Morrison government's recent budget.
School students hold signs during School Strike 4 Climate protest, in Brisbane, Friday, May 21, 2021. Source: AAP
Protesters are seen during School Strike 4 Climate protest, in Melbourne, Friday, May 21, 2021. Source: AAP
put more than $58 million towards expanding the gas industry, with the coalition this week also announcing $600 million of taxpayer money would go towards building the Kurri Kurri gas-fired power station in NSW.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison insists gas is important to help backup renewable power sources, telling reporters on Wednesday that "battery development is still at a very early stage".
The budget also had more than $1 billion for initiatives to lower emissions, including for technology development and money for companies to incentivise reductions.
In Sydney on Friday, the crowd heard calls from speakers for investment in renewable energy, jobs "of the future", and Indigenous-led solutions to climate change.
Ruby Bron of Santa Sabine College, 15, said public money should be used to transition to the economy away from fossil fuels, not towards them.
“[It] should be used to fund the creation of jobs that will fast track solutions to the climate crisis,” she said.
Gomeroi climate activist Ian Brown urged people from all walks of Australian life to come together to pressure leaders to pay more attention to climate science.
“There is no planet b. This is our only planet and we've got to step up and we got to take a stand,” he said.
The first Australian School Strike 4 Climate protests occurred in 2018 and grew to crowds numbering in the tens of thousands a year later.
At the time, the prime minister dismissed and condemned the strikers' actions.
"What we want is more learning in schools and less activism in schools," Mr Morrison said.
Some state leaders expressed their support for the schoolkids on Friday.
Tasmanian Premier Peter Gutwein said his own children had attended climate strikes and the issue was very important to young people.
"As long as they've gone through the right processes, I have no problem with [students striking]," he said.
The International Energy Agency said earlier this week all future fossil fuel projects must be scrapped if the world is to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 and to stand any chance of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees Celcius.
The United States has been calling for an end to fossil fuel subsidies from governments, while New Zealand will use this year's APEC meetings to say they should not be increased going forward.
With reporting by AAP.
