Australian Students Stage School Strikes Over Climate Change Inaction
Frustrated by their government’s failure to act on climate change, thousands of Australian students quit school for a day to protest instead.
Milou Albrecht, 14, center, speaking to students attending a rally for climate change action at the Old Treasury Building in Melbourne, Australia, on Friday.Christina Simons for The New York Times
MELBOURNE, Australia — As wildfires raged across the country, a heat wave again threatened the Great Barrier Reef and a mining giant announced it would push ahead with a huge coal project, thousands of students across Australia quit school for the day on Friday to protest government inaction on climate
On Monday, Mr. Morrison told senators that he did not condone the strike, because students should focus on “more learning” and “less activism.” He said he did not support “schools being turned into parliaments.”
The resources minister, Matt Canavan, was more pointed, saying students “don’t learn anything” by marching.
“I want kids to be at school to learn about how you build a mine, how you do geology, how you drill for oil and gas,” he told the local news media.
Ms. Albrecht said she was astonished by the number of students who took part.
In Melbourne and Sydney, organizers estimated that about 8,000 students participated, and hundreds more joined the effort in other cities and towns. And earlier this week, an estimated 1,700 students protested in other parts of the country, including more than 200 who showed up at Parliament House in Canberra, the capital, to demand answers from Prime Minister Scott Morrison.
Courtesy of NewYorkTimes.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said this week that he did not condone the protests, and that students should be focused on “more learning” and “less activism.”Christina Simons for The New York Times
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