The BSFG Committee is preparing a Climate Emergency petition requesting Benalla Rural City Council Declare a Climate Emergency, joining in excess of 80 in Australia and 1,315 jurisdictions and local governments globally covering 810 million citizens.

The petition is for Benalla Rural City residents to sign and we are seeking assistance from BSFG members to go on a roster to collect signatures and hand out our flyer, initially next week on Tuesday (28th), Thursday (30th), and Friday (31st). Hours would be from 9.00-12.30 and 12.30-4.00 i.e. 2 separate shifts preferably with 2 people on each shift.

Peter Holmes has permission to set up a table and small A-frame outside Bendigo Bank to collect signatures for the CE petition.

We also need to organise the delivery and collection of the card table, chairs and sandwich board on each day – again by roster.

Please contact Peter on 0438 625 6358 to be added to the roster.

It isn't too late to send a message to the Environment Minister Hunt and Assistant Treasurer Kelly O'Dwyer to reject concerning anti democratic restrictions on environment charities.  Here is the content of the message you can send through to them by signing the online petition organized by Environment Victoria.  This could also be useful should you decide to write to local politicians, petition others.  

"Dear Assistant Treasurer O'Dwyer and Environment Minister Hunt,

I am calling on you to reject outright the recommendations of the Inquiry Report into the Register of Environmental Organisations, which seeks to impose anti-democratic restrictions on environmental advocacy.

With an election around the corner, the Turnbull Government should distance itself from the Abbott Government's ideological attacks on environment and community groups.

Many of our most loved natural places were protected by environmental advocacy. In addition, environmental organisations provide crucial checks and balances on projects that may cause damage to sensitive ecosystems and unique wildlife.

So it’s very concerning that the House of Representatives Standing Committee on the Environment, headed by members of the Turnbull Government, has released a report recommending restrictions to environmental advocacy.

Recommendation 5 would require environment organisations to spend 25 percent of donations they receive on ‘environmental remediation work’ such as tree planting. 

As Jason Wood MP points out in his dissenting report, a large number of groups that do important research, education, advocacy and legal work would not meet this 25 percent target.

This is an attempt to silence charities and tie them up in bureaucratic red tape.

Recommendation 6 would penalise or sanction environment groups that ‘that encourage, support, promote, or endorse illegal or unlawful activity’. Again, as Jason Wood MP notes in his dissenting report, if it weren’t for peaceful civil disobedience, many of our most loved natural places would not have been protected. 

From the beginning this Inquiry was ideologically driven, anti-democratic and unfair in its targeting of environment charities. I am calling on you to immediately reject this report and distance your government from the Abbott Government’s ideological attacks on environment and community groups."

You can follow the following link to sign the online petition: 

If you don’t want the government to restrict speaking up for our environment, please tell the Environment Minister and Assistant Treasurer to reject this Abbott-era inquiry report >>