by Gregory Andrews

I spent the first half of November 2023 in a swag on the lawns of Parliament House on a climate hunger strike calling on the Government to do what’s needed for a safe future for our kids and country. While focusing primarily on actions to prevent climate collapse, my conversations with the everyday Australians I met often migrated to a quieter and more sinister crisis — a climate reckoning with huge risks for Australia and our peoples. Climate injustice. 

While often framed as something affecting developing countries, climate injustice affects Australia too. Indeed, we already have a big and growing problem with inequality. Australians in the top 20 percentile bracket take over 40 per cent of our national income, while those in the bottom 20 percentile only get 6 per cent. Without effective policy responses, climate change will worsen this. And it probably already is. 

Climate change deepens inequality by impacting the most those who can least afford it, and by making it harder for those people to rebound from its impacts. Furthermore, powerful figures like Gina Rinehart and Woodside executives are profiting obscenely by exploiting our fossil fuel resources with the support of huge government subsidies. This contributes to the very crisis that is escalating injustice. That’s why as we grapple with rising energy costs, food insecurity, floods, heatwaves and bushfires, we must deal with the stark reality of climate injustice. Our climate responses must safeguard the Australian value of a ‘fair go’.

For those already facing homelessness, low-quality housing, or the burden of inflation and rising bills, coping with climate extremes becomes an added layer of hardship. Climate change disproportionately increases living costs for low-income earners who spend a much higher share of their income on essentials like food, fuel and accommodation. And that’s in addition to the fact that they are already paying a ‘poverty premium’ on these goods and services. Research by Anglicare, for example, shows low-income Australians pay over 90 per cent more for groceries and 20 per cent more for energy than higher-income Australians. 

When conversations pivot to climate action, a focus on ‘techno-fixes’ disregards entrenched systems of disadvantage and injustice that make participating in climate solutions harder for poorer people. Lower-income people are much less able to afford an EV, solar panels or switch from gas to electric appliances, for example. This escalates climate injustice by locking poorer people into more expensive and polluting energy systems and assets. 

As an Indigenous Australian, I know that we endure an additional level of climate injustice. Climate change makes it increasingly difficult for us to connect to our country. It’s like being taken away from our religion or identity. Climate change is thus akin to recolonisation; it takes country away from people, and people away from country. The associated ecological and climate grief also adds to our existing mental health pressures. 

So, what would it mean for Australia to have social justice and equity at the forefront of climate action? How can we build a climate response that is equitable and effective?

Firstly, we must acknowledge that climate injustice is not an ideological concept but a hard reality. The stories of those of us on the frontlines of climate change need to be heard, understood, and incorporated. It’s not just about numbers and statistics; it’s about people’s lives, homes, and communities. It’s about the impacts of heatwaves on homeless people outside Woolworths and Coles. It’s about the children with asthma in Western Sydney whose health and education are affected by bushfire smoke. Or the kids in Lismore and the Riverina who are homeless due to flooding. 

Secondly, our responses must move beyond the technical. While green technology is crucial, we can’t neglect the social structures that perpetuate inequality and are worsened by climate change. We must address the root causes of climate injustice. Aviation and private jet use are a prime example. Private jets have 10 times more CO2 emissions than regular flights per person, and 50 times more than the average train ride. A two-hour flight in a private jet emits almost as much carbon as the average Australian car does in a year. Less than one per cent of the world’s population are responsible for half of global aviation emissions. But four fifths of the world’s population have never flown, and they’re the ones most impacted by the climate crisis. 

Thirdly, in Australia we have a unique opportunity to design climate responses based on 65,000 years of Indigenous knowledge about managing this place. Including and listening to Indigenous peoples, and supporting community-led approaches can give Australia a comparative advantage in adapting and responding to climate change that few, if any, other countries in the world can enjoy. 

Lastly, it’s crucial to address the glaring injustice of companies and individuals who are amassing obscene wealth by contributing to the climate crisis. Fossil-fuelled profits generated by people like Gina Rinehart and companies like Woodside need to be limited and redirected to sustainable and equitable outcomes. Taxing rather than subsidising fossil fuels can support vulnerable communities, renewable energy transition and adaptation. Australia can learn from Norway in this regard, which is one of the richest countries in the world from its fossil fuels. Unlike Australia which subsidises fossil fuels and inadequately resources its health and education systems, Norway imposes a 78% tax on fossil fuel revenues and pumps this money into free universal education and health care among other things. But in Australia, we subsidise Gina Rhinehart to dig up and export fossil fuels tax-free, while excluding our teeth from Medicare and charging university students to become teachers, nurses and scientists. We’d be much better off following Norway’s example and doing the opposite. 

The ‘fair go’ must be more than a slogan. It must be a commitment to a society where every Australian has the opportunity to thrive, irrespective of their background. As we face the challenge of climate change, we must cherish that. And we must also hold to account those who enable and profit from the destruction that threatens our social fabric and existence. We must deal with climate injustice. 

Gregory Andrews is a D’harawal man and a former Ambassador and Threatened Species Commissioner for Australia. From 2-17 November, 2023, he undertook Australia’s longest climate hunger strike, solo, on the lawns of Parliament House in Canberra.