There has been a lot happening in the climate change space both globally and locally since our last newsletter – PHCCIG committee members have been active in meeting with politicians, attending briefings and training to stay up to date with climate change issues.
The PHCCIG Annual general meeting was held on 28 October 2023 at the Boya Community Centre, Guest speaker, Dr Richard Yin, Doctors for the Environment (left), gave a very interesting talk on ‘Climate change advocacy; the power in meaningful stories, relationships & communities’.
Three of our founding committee members stepped down – Helen Lynes our Chair, Cathy Levett our Youth specialist, and Michael Hoy who set up our IT systems. Fortunately, they all remain members, will stay connected and continue to offer us advice and input.
We were able to recruit four new committee members with great skills. Tanya Marwood, Finn Carle, Rhiannon Hardwick, and Stephen Jones.
PHCCIG continue to collaborate and work with other local and national climate change and environmental organisations such as ACF, CCWA, NRPG, Forrest Alliance, CANA and many others.
See more below for a summary of our activities:
Meetings with politicians:
- Meeting with Tania Lawrence, Federal member for Hasluck 10 Oct 2023 – Helen & Ailsa from PHCCIG, Dr Richard Yin of DOE and Steve Gates NRPG to discuss climate and biodiversity matters.
- Meeting with Jessica Shaw, MLA: Ailsa and Denise discussed the proposed WA climate change bill. Our group submitted a response to the proposed bill. The Bill will be debated early this year.
- Matthew Hughes, MLA – Rhiannon and Lynda met with Matthew at his Kalamunda electoral office on 5 December 2023 to discuss climate change issues in general, and in particular the WA Climate Bill and the Beyond Gas campaign. It was a productive meeting, and we hope to meet with a wide range of politicians and other climate focused organisations in 2024.
Training and briefings:
- COP 101 online ZOOM training– Lynda and Denise attended.
- School Strike Nov 17 – information disseminated to our members and networks.
- Gas the facts: Bas, Ailsa and Lynda attended a meeting in Fremantle town hall on 21 Nov 2023. Presenters were Richard Dennis – Australia Institute, Kate Chaney Federal Independent member for Curtin and Josh Wilson, Federal Labor member for Fremantle.
- Nature Laws online seminar: 28 Nov – overview of National reforms to the EPBC Act – Lynda attended.
- EPA online briefing – 19 Dec 2023 – Lynda attended the workshop which addressed critical issues surrounding the Cook Government’s proposed overhaul of the state’s environmental assessment system. Further discussion will happen in 2024.
- Meet your MP workshop: Denise attended the Australian Conservation Foundation’s workshop.
Papers and Submissions:
- PHCCIG – Update of Advocacy Position paper to the Federal Government 2022 – 2024
- PHCCIG – Update of WA Government and Climate Advocacy Position paper 2022 – 2024
- COP 28 Bulletin – December 2023: overview of COP and key take outs for COP 28. Compiled by Lynda and Tanya and sent to members.
- Six Seasons newsletter – A PHCCIG article was published in the Shire of Mundaring’s bi-monthly E-news.
Coming up in 2024
- Our new committee will meet late in January to develop the operational plan for 2024, which will inform our way forward.
- IT systems will be revamped to make communication and access to information easier.
- Further input to the WA climate Bill
- Potential response to WA EPA changes
Lynda – Chair