For everyone A golden opportunity for a brighter future
Genevieve Purcell, Mac.Robertson High School teacher and proud AEU member, became involved in the Renew Australia for All (RAFA) campaign this year after attending the Victorian campaign launch in Melbourne’s east. RAFA unites union and climate activists in a campaign to cut energy bills and create thousands of long-term jobs in renewable energy.
“I believe unions and the union movement ultimately stand on principles of fairness and equity, and it is a vital part of empowering everyone to engage in campaigns of fairness and human rights,” she says. “Education and renewable energy for our future are inextricably intertwined, that is why I joined RAFA.”
The Victorian Trades Hall Council and Environment Victoria are organising Victoria’s leg of the RAFA campaign, mobilising hundreds of activists like Gen.
At the launch, we discussed the cost-of-living pressures affecting workers across the country, and how we can run a grassroots campaign to cut energy prices and tackle the climate crisis. This was the culmination of years of planning to bring together a historic alliance of more than 65 national organisations, including unions, social services, faith, community and multicultural groups, environmental organisations and industry.
Genevieve has been out in the streets with other campaigners, talking to locals, collecting signatures and pledges to send to federal MPs. She hopes her conversations with the community are helping to reframe the energy debate.
“Our climate can’t wait for the development of nuclear power, and we have a golden opportunity to focus on a transition to renewables right now. In Victoria, we have already made great strides to using renewable energy, with targets of 95% of renewables by 2035.
“I am also concerned that nuclear is simply a distraction to allow coal and gas projects to continue uninhibited. Peter Dutton has a habit of making promises and then walking them back (such as his proposed second referendum to recognise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander voices in the constitution), so I’m concerned it simply wouldn’t happen.”
Renew Australia for All is pushing government to adopt its Energy Bills Savings Plan – a specific call for the federal government to invest $5 billion to deliver immediate subsidies and finance to reduce or eliminate the upfront cost of home energy upgrades and rooftop solar and batteries for millions of Australian households hit by the cost-of-living crisis.
RAFA is also campaigning for a further $50 billion over 10 years to repower Australian homes and communities with rooftop solar, batteries, electric appliances and thermal improvements.
Genevieve sees a strong link between education and environmental activism.
“We want to instil in our young people values of justice, empathy, humanity, respect and compassion. Campaigning for renewables is a way of moving closer to these ideals, and a society that values the environment and everyone’s right to exist and enjoy it now and in the future.
“In the Victorian Curriculum 2.0, every subject refers to some idea of fostering students’ wonder, empathy, passion, compassion, relationships, and interrelationships. How can we foster these ideas if we don’t campaign for a future that realises them?”
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