Thirty Years of Creative Resistance - Friends of the Earth Australia

Lee Tan
“Let’s chuck in some coins to try our
luck in this week’s Tattslotto…”.
That was the conclusion of an emergency
FoE Strategy meeting to deal with the
dwindling finances for the renovation of
FoE’s new premises at Smith Street in 1993.
At the time I was only several weeks into
the part-time Office Co-ordinator cum FoE
General finance co-ordination position,
after my sea change decision to focus
my time and energy into working for the
environment and a socially just world. Prior
to this, I had been working full-time in the
corporate sector and a health institution.
That meeting did not leave me feeling
helpless but it prompted me to ask what
has led us into such desperation and why
there were so little resources for good
environmental causes. As it turned out, FoE
was being gentrified out of Fitzroy into
the neighbouring working class suburb,
Collingwood. We got a filthy dilapidated
building and we were on a warpath with
the real estate agent staff assigned to
the property. It took another year and a
half to have the lease signed and sealed,
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after he was sacked. The cheap lawyer
recommended to us by the Fitzroy Legal
Service died halfway through his assistance
(through causes not related to the case).
Finally, Frank, who kindly offered an hour
a week (or month) of his time helped us
through the rest of the paper work. Frank
was a God-send, although I could not recall
if we had made a decision at Strategy to
pray for an accountant. He turned up at a
time when we were really struggling with
tightening of legislation and guidelines for
community organisations and professional
advice was most needed.
After FoE was physically moved from its
old premises, I returned to work after one
week of study leave. The entire upstairs of
the building was in mayhem, filled with
rubble, building materials and off-cuts. Old
furniture and files were stacked up ceiling
high. The entire office staff and volunteers
had taken leave to recuperate from the
move. The phone rang but I could not get to
it because it was buried amongst the piles of
furniture. And the bank balance was down
to 3 digits! I thought to myself then: ”We’ll
be in the post capitalist state in no time!”
Somehow we managed. We got volunteers
to help with the ‘renovation’. All of a
sudden I found myself turning into a
building site supervisor. It was definitely
a case of jumping in the deep end, often
beyond the realm of my imagination when
I took up the job at FoE. Nevertheless, I
learnt to love all of these new experiences,
not underestimating the stresses and worries
we all went through after the move.
The thing I’m most impressed and
fascinated about FoE is the resourcefulness
and the resilience of its staff. FoE is almost
entirely self-funded.
FoE adheres to a set of strict environmental
and ethical standards, and this is not easy in
a society where money is mostly generated
through resource exploitation and an
insatiable appetite for consumption.
For the next few years after the move, as
Melbournians prepared for their annual post
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