Scorched summer reminds us: climate change is union business

ADVOCATE ISSN 1321-8476 All text & images ©NTEU 2020 unless otherwise stated Publisher Matthew McGowan Editor Alison Barnes Production Manager Paul Clifton Editorial Assistance Anastasia Kotaidis Published by National Tertiary Education Union ABN 38 579 396 344 PO Box 1323, South Melbourne VIC 3205 Australia Feedback & advertising advocate@nteu.org.au

NTEU NATIONAL EXECUTIVE National President Alison Barnes General Secretary Matthew McGowan National Assistant Secretary Gabe Gooding Vice-President (Academic) Andrew Bonnell Vice-President (General Staff) Cathy Rojas A&TSI Policy Committee Chair Shane Motlap National Executive: Steve Adams, Nikola Balnave, Damien Cahill, Vince Caughley, Cathy Day, Jonathan Hallett, Andrea Lamont-Mills, Virginia Mansel Lees, Michael McNally, Kelvin Michael, Catherine Moore, Rajeev Sharma, Melissa Slee, Ron Slee, Michael Thomson, Nick Warner

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Dr Alison Barnes, National President

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For me, it was a summer defined by apprehension for our climate and for my family: my mother lives by herself in a house separated from a national park by a fire trail; my daughter and her classmates spent their lunch times in classrooms, un- able to play outside due to the heat and hazardous air quality; most distressingly of all, I worried about my brother and his children (particularly my severely disa- bled niece) who twice had to evacuate not knowing if their house would survive. As our union works on our priorities for 2020, some members may think that although climate change is an important issue, it is one largely beyond our remit. I can understand that view. After all, we have a big agenda already, with important workplace and sector campaigns that we need to win: growing our membership and building grass roots participation; making employment more secure; boost- ing federal funding; safeguarding our workplace; enshrining academic freedom and integrity – the list goes on. Those issues will certainly continue to form the core of our work. But we would be remiss as an organisation if we had no plan to use our expertise and our power to push for action on the climate crisis that is bearing down on us. As a union we are well placed to both lead the debate and the campaign on climate change. Our approach is evidence-based: we check our facts, we read the foot- notes, and we examine the evidence before reaching our conclusions. Our members produce the climate science, track the economic modelling, research the technological solutions, and teach the students who will be living with the im- pacts of climate change for years to come. We know – because our expert members in climate science have been telling us for some time – that the burning of fossil fuels makes climate change worse, su- percharging extreme weather events like bushfires. We know that we are currently on-track for runaway climate change that threatens human life and the natural world on a catastrophic and irreversible scale. This message was echoed recent- ly when more than 440 scientists and academics signed an open letter to Prime Minister Scott Morrison calling for action on climate change and bushfires. We teach our students to think critically when constructing their arguments: to examine the evidence, to explore the literature. But seeing Senator Jim Molan declare recently on ABCTV Q&A, ‘I’m not relying on evidence,’ I’m forced to con- clude that some Government members are indeed living in a post-truth universe. The fact is that our Government is hope- lessly unwilling and incapable of respond- ing with the urgency and reason that this crisis demands. We need to change that – and our union is one of the best placed in Australia to help lead the way. NTEU National Council in 2019 directed our union to develop a comprehensive climate justice campaign, and we have commenced this work. If you’ve got ideas about what we should be doing, or you want to put your hand up to be active in this space, please get in touch with me or your branch and let’s work out how we can all play a role. ◆ Alison Barnes, National President As the ash settles on the smoke-soaked Australian summer of 2019–20, it’s worth taking stock of what happened and what it means for our communities, our sector, and our union. We were all affected in some way by the bushfire crisis that engulfed Aus- tralia. Whether it was our families, homes, holidays, workplaces, wildlife or Australian society – we all have a story about how the bushfires affected us.