Letter to the Prime Minister
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4 October 2021
The Hon Scott Morrison MP Prime Minister
Parliament House
Canberra ACT 2600
RE: CARE FOR ALL CREATION
Dear Prime Minister,
This letter is from the Laity and Clergy, and their friends, of the Catholic Parish of Our Lady of the Way in North Sydney.
We wish to convey to you and your colleagues the importance we place on caring for all of creation, and at this time, the urgent importance of taking action on all things which threaten it, including human-induced climate change.
It should cause no surprise that our strong stance is significantly influenced by our faith as well as our knowledge and experience.
In his encyclical, Laudato 5i (Praise Be), Pope Francis sent a plea to the world to Care for our Common Home. For Catholics, it is now clearly a part of our faith. Francis calls on all of us to be active in this cause.
Consistent with the Greenfaith International Network and the Australian Religious Response to Climate Change, we strongly urge you and your government to ACT URGENTLY on the following:
1. Support for a sustainable, just recovery from COVID-19 that:
a. Prioritises Green Jobs.
b. Ensures that recovery investment to be spent on boosting renewable energy and low carbon industries rather than funding a “gas-led recovery”.
c. Supports an orderly, planned, just transition to a sure, dignified and sustainable future for communities currently dependent on the coal and gas industries.
2. Reduce Australia's emissions at least by two-thirds by 2030
Commit to aligning Australia's Nationally Determined Contributions (targets) to this goal, if possible, before COP 26 in Glasgow.
3. 1ead the international community on fairness for all in the use of resources:
a. Whenever possible, require those who have damaged creation to restore it.
b. Support people who have been the most impacted.
c. Provide substantial funding (consistent with Australia's wealth, responsibility and moral leadership) for the UN Green Climate Fund, in addition to the foreign aid budget.
4. Stop all new fossil fuel production and deforestation
No more habitat or biodiversity loss.
5. Make urgent transition to 10096 renewables away from fossil fuels.
As the leaders of all faiths wrote to you in February 2020:
"We are asking you to have the wisdom, courage and humility to admit that it is time to chart a new course when it comes to climate policy. It is not about “getting the balance right," as you have put it, when so much is at stake, both here and around the world. Old arguments and ideological stands need to be re-examined. It is no longer about balancing the protection of natural resources with economic considerations, but about making life and health the priority of your administration, trusting that this choice will bring economic benefit and a sense of hope and promise to all Australians.”
Our North Sydney Community is heavily committed; we ask the same of our political leaders.
The Catholic Parish of North Sydney and friends