• Thousands of school students will take to the streets to protest government inaction on the climate crisis this Friday.
• The Australia-wide protests mark the first school climate strike since the start of the pandemic last year.
• The events are backed by strong support from Australian tech and business leaders including Atlassian and Canva.
• Visit Business Insider Australia’s homepage for more stories.

Following a Federal Budget which left the climate agenda for dead, thousands of school children are protesting government inaction on climate change, receiving vocal support from an extensive list of Australian businesses.

The protests, which will take place across Australia, mark the first school climate strike since the start of the pandemic last year and are particularly focused on the federal government’s new funding for gas-fired power.

Events will be held at Sydney’s Town Hall at 12pm, Mebourne’s Treasury Gardens at 1pm, Brisbane’s King George Square at 1pm, along with protests at similar times in Adelaide, Darwin, Perthm, Canberra and Hobart.

Australian tech darlings Atalassian, Canva, Future Super, Who Gives a Crap, Patagonia, Athena Home Loans, Huddle Insurance Amber Electric, Grok and Intrepid, among others have voiced support for their employees to strike and also join the marches.

The protests, organised by the relaunched Not Business as Usual alliance, has seen more than 300 businesses sign up in addition to those listed, who have spoken out in support of the events.

The protests come as the government announced on Wednesday it would spend $600 million on a new gas-fired power plant in New South Wales.

In statements around climate change since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, Morrison has said he backs a “gas-fired recovery”, and has gained support from federal and state governments that have continued to back the expansion of coal mines and gas fields.

Australia’s business leaders voice their support

Cameron Adams, Canva’s co-founder and Chief Product Officer, said that climate change is the defining issue of our time but that Australia has seen “a complete absence of political leadership on the matter.”

“Particularly here in Australia, it is going to take individuals and private organisations to campaign for the change we want to see,” he said.

“We strongly believe in the social and moral responsibility we have to champion climate and environmental responsibility and absolutely encourage our team to have their voices heard as part of the upcoming climate rallies.”

Similarly, Simon Sheikh, CEO and founder of Future Super, told Business Insider Australia it was imperative that Australia’s business community supported the student-led protests.

“It was a natural business decision to close our doors and support our employees in supporting the climate strikes today,” adding the business also saw it as an opportunity to support their employees in similarly taking time off to strike.

He said that the “huge success” young people have seen in striking comes from the overwhelming support Australian business leaders have provided — something that is evident today and he believes will continue.

“Clearly our young people are at the front line in calling for climate action,” he said.

“Young people have been hugely successful at organising these large rallies, and part of that success has been by the fact that they’ve been backed by big employers like Atlassian and Canva and Future Super and so many others.”

Kiera Peacock, a partner at Marque Lawyers, said the issue is whether Australia wants to become leaders in the global fight against climate change.

“The world is moving on. We need strong government policy and laws to drive investment in new technology and protect Australia’s exports,” she said.

Jason Wilby, co-founder of Huddle Insuranc,e echoed this sentiment, saying business leaders had a moral imperative to support the student protests.

“We wouldn’t be doing our job as a responsible insurance business if we didn’t support Australia’s students and Not Business as Usual in protesting for change,” he said.

Sheikh said this month’s Budget showed it was incumbent on businesses and the Australian public to ensure that we “put the issue back on the government’s agenda.”

“We’ve seen so many Australians express their concerns around natural disasters like bushfires and floods; we’ve got to make sure the issue of climate change is top of mind for our politicians every day,” he said.

He added that the Federal Budget left $10 billion dollars in unallocated spending ready for future announcements.

“We want to make sure some of that money is going toward a green energy revolution and a green-powered recovery,” he said.

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