Climate Action Burwood/Canada Bay (CABCB) was formed in the second half of 2018, with the aim of getting climate on the agenda in the marginal electorate of Reid. Its two founders were not local to the area, but were hoping to attract people who were, so this latter group could take over running the organisation. It took three years for that to properly happen. All committee members are now locals, and the group’s two founders have moved on to other climate-related activities.
Members of CABCB with Chris Bowen and Sally Sitou at the April 2022 announcement of Labor's community battery program.
It took us a few years to work out what CABCB’s goals and strategies should be, but now we describe ourselves as an education and lobby group. We do not organise protests, although we do notify our members about actions taking place here and elsewhere. Instead, we work with our state and federal politicians – both Labor and Liberal – and our three local councils, to progress practical climate action. We also campaigned in both the 2019 and 2022 federal elections, to support candidates with a strong climate message. Our 2022 campaign helped oust the federal Liberal MP, Fiona Martin, and replace her with Labor’s Sally Sitou. Sally has very strong position on climate. (Fiona, although a Liberal moderate, voted repeatedly against climate action.) Our two state MPs, Labor’s Jason Yat-Sen Li, and the Liberals’ Stephanie di Pasqua, are both strong on climate and renewable energy, and we work with them closely.
Some CABCB members pre-polling during the 2022 election campaign. There were CABCB members at pre-polling from 8:00am to 8:00pm every day for two weeks, and members on most of the booths on polling day. We handed out almost 20,000 flyers.
CABCB has two levels of membership: paid up members, who can stand for the committee and vote at the AGM; and supporters, who subscribe to our weekly newsletter and can participate in the group’s activities. We have about 30 paid-up members and another 325 supporters. About 40 people are active in our group – meaning they come to our meetings and participate in our actions. Others participate by writing letters, signing petitions or simply reading the newsletter and staying abreast of what’s happening in the area.
2023 Bunnings sausage sizzle: one of CABCB's annual fundraising activities. Last year we made almost $2,000 from the sausage sizzle.
Having organised a series of major events over the past two years, we now have all the skills we need to run our group successfully. These skills include event management, publicity, graphic design, web design, photography, video-making, networking, public speaking, budget management, research, report writing, letter-writing, lobbying, production of a weekly newsletter and writing submissions for grants. All these skills were needed to stage our Smart Energy Expo this June. Our aim was to put on a professional-looking event, with an attendance of over 500 people, and this is what we did. We had discussion panels, short presentations, home energy consultations an an ongoing demonstration of induction cooking. We also had 20 exhibitors plus an extensive display of electric vehicles. Both MG and BYD came with cars that attendees could test drive. We also had our local MPs in attendance, along with two of our three local mayors and host of council members. The expo was a huge success.
Dignitaries at the Smart Energy Expo: from left to right, City of Canada Bay Councillor Charles Jago, Burwood Mayor John Faker, MLC Principal Lisa Moloney, Reid MP Sally Sitou, Strathfield MP Jason Yat-Sen Li, Cit of Canada Bay Mayor Michael Megna, expo MC Dan Ilic, CABCB committee member Steven Du.
We have been a member group of the NCC for three years now, and have one of our committee members participate in the CEWG working group. We have also collaborated with the NCC to stage candidate forums at federal and state elections. We see the NCC as one of our key partner organisations, the other being CANA. We attend NCC events on a regular basis, and have a representative on the CEWG working group.
Our two major projects for the first half of 2024 were the Smart Energy Expo (see above) and Speaking 4 the Planet (S4P). S4P is a schools-based event, where students compete in five categories (speaking, writing, drama, art and digital design) on an environmental theme. This was the second year we have staged the event, and it was a huge success. 11 high schools participated, and the quality of the work was outstanding. Our three local councils funded the event, Domremy College acted as host, the auditorium was packed and the mayor of Canada Bay presented the prizes. Although federal and state parliament were both in session, our three MPs beamed in via Zoom, to deliver a message to the participants.
In the second half of the year, we will be taking things a lot slower. We have two induction cooking events planned, both funded and publicised by Canada Bay Council. (We will be doing another three in the first half of 2025.) We are also running another series of our successful ‘Stitch it, Don’t Ditch It’ workshops, where we teach people to repair their clothes rather than throw them out. These workshops are a way of illustrating how a seemingly inconsequential industry – fashion – is responsible for 10 percent of global emissions. CABCB will also have a stall at the Strathfield Spring Festival in September. We will also continue having our monthly members meetings, with guest speakers from other climate organisations. Some of our past guest speakers have included Tim Buckley, Professor David Karoly, Professor Andrew Mackintosh, Dr Barry Traill (CANA), Dr Brad Smith (NCC), Dr Jenny Newell (Curator for Climate Change, Australian Museum), Brett Morgan (Market Forces), Walter Batt (Farmers for Climate Action) and Steven Du (Vice Chair, Australian Electric Vehicles Association). Our next speaker will be Fiona Lee from Lock the Gate.
The biggest challenge we face at CABCB is to forge greater links with the local Asian community. 56 percent of the Reid electorate is of non-English speaking background, yet we only have a small number of members who fit that profile. Just one of our seven committee members is of Asian background. The fact is, we do not properly represent the cultural mix of the community, and we need to.
Probably our biggest success thus far has been the way we have established ourselves as a key organisation within the community. As little as three years ago, we were just a handful of people who knew no one and were known by no one. Now we are known and respected by our local politicians, mayors and councillors, as well as by many community organisations. They know that we are very active and are capable of organising large, successful events. When we have something to say, they listen. When we ask for a meeting, they respond positively and quickly. They also know that we are not asking the impossible of them. We are simply looking for practical action to progress the cause of climate action in our area.
CABCB fundraising trivia night, 2022: 75 people attended, and CABCB raised $1,700. It was a hugely successful event.
As always, we are brimming with new ideas, and are keen to work on these with the NCC. Thus far, we have mainly called on the NCC to publicise our activities – most recently our Smart Energy Expo. However, direct partnerships are a very attractive option. One idea that has come up is to have an exhibition of the work of Josh Dykgraff, who is a brilliant digital artist. Josh gave a presentation of his climate- and nature-themed work at our recent members’ meeting. His creations are so powerful, they completely blew us away. We immediately felt they needed a wider audience. We want to have a proper exhibition in our local area, partnering with other organisations, where Josh could give his presentation. We think it would help get the climate and environmental message across in a very powerful way. (Josh was also a presenter and judge at our C4C event in June. He lives in Melbourne.)
As for what inspires me do do work on climate change, it’s that I don’t want to hand over an ecologically depleted world to future generations. I have two adult children, both active in the climate movement, and I could not look them in the eye if I was not doing my bit too. This is a fight we have to win. And after decades of delay, there is not a moment to lose. Sadly, I did not get involved in the movement until 2019, following a trip across Russia. There I saw the dirty heart of the fossil fuel industry. It occurred to me that Australia is also responsible for feeding the world’s addiction to fossil fuels, and that I needed to do something about this. When I got back home I joined CABCB, which was still in its infancy, and threw myself into the work. Five years later, and I haven’t looked back. I won’t until the battle is finally won.
Ken presenting to the Probus Club of Breakfast Point: an example of our community outreach program. Ken gives regular talks on climate change to groups like Rotary, Probus, Lions and U3A. This way CABCB gets out the message, builds our profile and recruits new members. There were almost 100 people at this talk.
Ken Enderby
President, Climate Action Burwood/Canada Bay