WBT posts this important message by Jonno Sri from the Gabba Ward in Brisbane.
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Dear residents,
We’ve certainly had an interesting week after the Courier Mail ran several misleading and deliberately inflammatory stories about me. I’d like to thank the hundreds of local residents who’ve contacted me with supportive comments, and to correct some of the misinformation that’s spreading around. Below, you can also find updates about a few local issues around Brisbane’s inner-south side.
Climate Change Emergency Declaration Motion
On Tuesday, I brought a motion for Brisbane City Council to declare a climate emergency and develop a comprehensive Climate Emergency Action Plan.
In recent months, Sydney, Melbourne, Hobart, Byron and even Noosa Councils have all passed similar declarations, and on Tuesday, Darwin became the 30th Australian city council to do so.
Unfortunately Brisbane did not join the ranks of progressive councils, and the motion was voted down 18 to 6. The 18 LNP councillors voted against the motion, while the 5 Labor Councillors joined me in voting in favour of the motion. Independent Councillor Nicole Johnston abstained.
If you care about climate change action, I invite you to join me at the next peaceful protest outside State Government headquarters at 1 William St in the CBD on Tuesday, 6 August. This will be a peaceful, lawful, family-friendly occupation including music, kids’ activities and a community BBQ. Organisers have submitted the necessary paperwork to legally occupy the street from 7am to 2pm. More details at this link.
Courier Mail Beat-Up
Three weeks ago, I made a public Facebook post which was highly critical of the way the Courier Mail had repeatedly demonised and dehumanised peaceful protesters who were raising concerns about climate change.
The Courier Mail editorial team has responded with several days of sensationalist attack stories, falsely claiming that I compared the protesters to Diggers, in order to distract from the serious issue of climate change.
For the record, I definitely was not drawing a direct comparison between protesters and military personnel, and I’m sorry if anyone was offended by the paper’s inflammatory misreporting of my comments.
I did, however, observe that roads get blocked for a whole range of reasons including parades, and that the real reason the Courier Mail continues attacking climate protesters is not so much because they are blocking roads, but because they are talking about the urgent need to stop building new coal mines. Big developers block roads and inconvenience motorists all the time, but the Courier Mail never calls developers ‘pests’ or ‘ferals’.
I do, of course, support civil disobedience, and I’ve written a justification of my position at this link if you’re interested.
Warm regards,
Jonno