Australian Politics and Policy - Senior, 2019a

Australian Politics and Policy
can be a difficult task. This is the heart of the problem of treating First Nations as
a broad Aboriginal or Indigenous population, rather than as a diverse collection
of communities with identities independent of each other and of the broader
Australian population.
Case example: Seed Indigenous Youth Climate Network and climate justice
The relationship between First Peoples and Country means that environmental
issues are understood as essential to protecting Country, culture and First Nations
livelihoods. Despite this, the voices of First Nations people are often absent in
debates on environmental issues. Seed Indigenous Youth Climate Network (Seed)
is an organisation founded in 2014 by First Nations young people that works to
empower First Nations communities and individuals to campaign against fossil
fuel extraction on their Country and for climate justice. Seed is concerned with
climate ‘justice’ because climate change disproportionally affects those who have
contributed the least to carbon emissions, including young First Nations people. 22
Seed has been involved in two major campaigns. They have supported First
Nations communities in the NT to learn about the impacts of hydraulic fracturing
(fracking) and to campaign against fracking being allowed on their Country. Seed
has also collaborated with other organisations in the Stop Adani movement,
opposing the Carmichael coal mine being built on Wangan and Jagalingou
Country.
The model of activism used by Seed involves community-based education of
First Nations peoples on the potential impacts of fossil fuels on Country; training
First Nations young people to be grassroots campaigners and elevate the voice of First
Peoples; collaborating with other environmental organisations to raise awareness of
their own campaigns; and aspiring to make climate change an Indigenous issue.
The work of Seed and young First Peoples campaigning for climate justice is
giving a voice to communities that are both the most invested in the wellbeing of
Countryandthefirsttofeeltheimpactsofclimatechange.
Barriers to engagement and participation
Like other minorities, First Peoples face considerable structural barriers to full
participation in the Australian political system. It is important to recognise that,
in the case of the First Nations, these structures have been firmly entrenched since
the earliest days of European colonisation. Settler law and institutions took no
account of the existence of First Peoples, deliberately ignored their ownership of the
land and denied their sovereignty. In this section, we will briefly consider some of
the factors that continue to prevent Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples
22 Seed Indigenous Youth Climate Network n.d.
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