The Australian Youth Climate Coalition - Who, What and Why?
Words by Austen Hunt
The Australian Youth Climate Coalition (AYCC) is the largest youth run organisation in Australia. Comprised of a diverse range of students and young professionals, the coalition’ aim is to build a platform for immediate and future action on climate change. The group was born from the popular sentiment that the status quo, business and political practices, has proven itself to be unable or unwilling to address the impending crisis of climate change. The AYCC is therefore galvanising people of all backgrounds and affiliations to create a meaningful dialogue, irrespective of political alignments, around the issue of climate change.
Through this the coalition hopes to influence the actions of decision makers, businesses, and a broader public. The formation of the AYCC is a milestone in Australia’s recent history and is noteworthy for numerous reasons. Primarily, it marks a milestone in the growing dissatisfaction of the youth in Australia. Harbouring a strong enough resentment for the lack of efforts taken by their leaders, student have formed a political body of their own to challenge the inertia they are experiencing at local, state, and federal levels.
The group is centering itself around a suite of specific ideals and campaigns. The ideals of the AYCC are centred around reforming the energy industry in Australia, revitalising and reshaping Australia's Agricultural production, and reimagining how we frame our communities.
To reflect these values the AYCC is directly supporting campaigns which pertain to these sectors. Namely:
The Stop Adani campaign
The Ban The Fracking in NT campaign
And the Repower our Schools campaign
The main goals of the coalition are to:
Raise the profile of the issue of climate change (particularly with the upcoming election in sight)
Contributing to a range of campaigns which aim to address key contributors of climate change; Stop Adani, Ban the Fracking in NT
And to increase the capacity of current and future generations through education
Beyond these campaigns, and in the more immediate presence, the AYCC is also lobbying electorates as we approach the federal election. The group has proactively segregated it’s membership along geographical lines, allowing different branches of the coalition to lobby their local electorates to pressure candidates to rise to the occasion and outline what their plans to tackle climate change. This will effectively raise the status of the climate change and signal to candidates that environmental concerns are communal concerns.
In short, the AYCC will:
Empower and educate a generation for current and future benefit
Run a strategic campaign to signal communal concerns
Shift the narrative of the current electoral cycle, and future politics
It is definitely worth mentioning that while these ideals have been lambasted as ‘leftist notions’ the AYCC is strictly non-partisan and does not affiliate itself or endorse any political party. The AYCC is simply pressuring actors in industry and politics to cease the denial surrounding the impending climate catastrophe and to take direct action to solve it.
The AYCC will also be hosting convergences in the future. Public events which aim to bring communities together over periods of time to build informal networks, strengthen organisational commitments, and inform the community as to how it has, and will continue to, develop.
To learn more about the AYCC it is worth checking out their website and learning how you can join your local group to lend your efforts in this seminal moment of Australian history.
This information and more can all be found here: https://www.aycc.org.au/