Last month our report “Captured State: The influence of the gas lobby on W.A.” detailed the revolving door between big fossil fuel companies and the Western Australian Government.

The Report proves that, if we are to shift WA beyond fossil fuels, we need people in communities all over the state pushing for climate action and a more honest democracy.

350 Perth is now ready to roll out the first phase of our strategy to break the hold the fossil giants have on our State:

  • We plan to  meet at least 38 Members of the State Legislature between now and the State election in March.
  • By July we aim to convince 15 Members of the State Parliament to support at least one of the five Report recommendations, which are:
  1. Demand reforms to the aboriginal heritage act, including:   Giving traditional owners the right to free prior and informed consent, and Lifting existing gag clauses which do not allow traditional owners to speak out publicly about threats to cultural heritage sites
  2. Introduce legislation for the publishing of ministerial diaries in real time
  3. Permanently ban fracking across all WA
  4. Introduce an effective cooling off period of a minimum 18 months for elected officials and their staff Introduce legislation to report political gifts and donations in real time
  5. Support the enforcement of ministerial conditions on gas projects to make polluters meet their offset requirements, while also regularly reviewing and increasing those requirements.

 

It is important that the environmental movement makes its voice heard through official channels, to counterbalance the lobbying of the fossil fuel industry.

These targets are ambitious but achievable with everyone’s help. We currently have a number of meetings being organised by community members but still require more. So if you would be interested in lobbying your local state member, please let us know. We can put you in touch with others in your area who are keen to do the same.

As part of our strategy we are going  to  create six regional leadership groups in:

  • North Metro
  • South Metro
  • East Metro
  • South West
  • Agricultural
  • Mining and Pastoral

 

We also want to reach out and inform more community members with stalls at local events and more presentations of the Captured State report findings. Parliamentary candidate forums and events are also a great way to find out about what your potential representative’s views are. A whole range of tactics are required over the coming months.

We would love to hear from you if you are able to help with any of the following:

Organising community members to attend meetings

Attending candidate forums

Lobbying your MPs

Holding an event for your community

Running stalls

Flyering

Writing letters to the editor

Creative actions

 





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