Last week, 30 community leaders gathered together on Dharawal land from across the Illawarra. We gathered to share our stories, share food and imagine a vision for the future of our region. A future where workers have good, secure unionised jobs in climate-safe industries, our communities are resilient to climate disaster and our public services care for those who need it most.
We met under the banner of Renew Australia for All – a coalition formed by trade unions, multicultural organisations, community + social services, clean industry and climate groups with a vision for a “better, cleaner and more secure future for all Australians”.
Young people, community leaders and people from different walks of life shared connected over the powerful reasons people had come today and the wealth of different experiences we have. Alex, a young person from Lake Heights, shared “The opportunities for climate action in the Illawarra are huge – we need to make sure that all parts of the community properly benefits from projects happening in our backyard.”
As we chatted and shared delicious homemade soup I realised the power of gathering in place and bringing big issues like climate and economic justice home to our local community. A vision we can all unite on can serve as the foundation of a movement powerful enough to meaningfully challenge Labors lack of ambition.
This campaign is a step towards our vision of a society with good jobs, great public services and a safe climate for all – it is essential we ground this in real voices from across the country.
There are more voices to be heard than there were people in the room last Saturday and we need to keep doing the work to build trust and relationships throughout the places we live. If you’re a young person and want to get involved, come along to our welcome call next Monday from 5:30 AEST to hear about the Tomorrow Movement story, culture and plan to win a future with good jobs, great public services and a safe climate for all.