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Amid the aromatic sizzle of traditional Election Day "democracy sausages," Australians ended nine years of right-wing rule in Saturday's compulsory federal vote, with climate campaigners and progressives around the world cheering what many called a "greenslide" as the left-wing Greens enjoyed unprecedented ballot box success.
"Millions of Australians have put climate first. Now, it's time for a radical reset on how this great nation of ours acts upon the climate challenge."
Liberal Prime Minister Scott Morrison conceded defeat late Saturday night to Labor leader Anthony Albanese, a career politician who called himself the first candidate with a "non-Anglo-Celtic name" to ever run for the nation's highest office.
Albanese delivered a victory speech in which he first committed to the Uluru Statement From the Heart--a pro-Indigenous declaration--before vowing to "seek our common purpose and promote unity and not fear."
In stark contrast to the administration of fossil fuel champion Morrison, Albanese said that "together we can end the climate wars. Together we can take advantage of the opportunity for Australia to be a renewable energy superpower."
Amanda McKenzie, CEO of the research group the Climate Council, declared that the real winner in Saturday's election was climate action.
"Millions of Australians have put climate first," she said in a statement. "Now, it's time for a radical reset on how this great nation of ours acts upon the climate challenge."
\u201cIn an election largely fought on climate, Australia tosses the Prime Minister who once brought a lump of coal to parliament. \nA huge win for Greens, and for activists who have fought for decades--and it will matter to the world! Such thanks!\nhttps://t.co/92iqPGg8SE\u201d— Bill McKibben (@Bill McKibben) 1653148261
With uncertainty over whether Labor would control the 76 seats needed to form a parliamentary majority--the party held 72 seats as of Saturday evening--Australian Greens leader Adam Bandt, who was re-elected in his Melbourne House district by more than 20 points over Labor challenger Keir Paterson, signaled his party is "willing to talk" with Albanese about a possible coalition.
"The Greens are on track for our best result ever," Bandt toldThe Guardian, which reports the party's primary vote has increased nationally by 1.9% to 12.3%. "People have backed the Greens in record numbers and delivered a massive mandate for action on climate and inequality."
"Today's the day we kick Scott Morrison out, and today's the day to change the government, and support for the Greens is growing," Bandt said Saturday morning.
"People are voting... to push the next government to go further and faster on climate, and also tackle the housing affordability crisis and get dental and mental health in Medicare," he added, a reference to Australia's publicly-funded healthcare insurance program.
Bandt toldThe Sydney Morning Herald that "with so many people switching to the Greens this election, the signs are that we will be in balance of power in the Senate, potentially in our own right."
There are currently nine Greens serving in the 76-member Senate and one in the 151-member House of Representatives.
Greens deputy leader Larissa Waters, a senator representing the northeastern state of Queensland--arguably the nation's most conservative--hailed Saturday's early results there as "looking very, very promising for a real greenslide."
"We have more people than ever flock to want to help us to campaign to win those seats," she told the Morning Herald. "In many... areas people have elected Greens at both other levels of government, and they really liked what they got and so it emboldened them to consider Greens federally as well."
After launching a massive grassroots get-out-the-vote campaign that hammered home the imperative of climate action amid devastating drought, heatwaves, wildfires, flooding, and destruction of the Great Barrier Reef, the Greens appeared likely to win three House seats in Queensland.
"We've just had three years of droughts and then fires and then floods and then floods again and people can see that this is happening," said Bandt. "I think increasingly what we're seeing is that that cuts across all voting persuasions, it cuts across all demographics--people know it's happening."
In a major power shift, architect Elizabeth Watson-Brown wrested control of the Liberal stronghold of Ryan in the western suburbs of Brisbane--Queensland's capital and the nation's third-largest city--from one-term incumbent Julian Simmonds after securing a swing of more than 10 points on preferences in Australia's ranked-choice system. The district had been held by the right-wing Liberal-National coalition since 1972.
"We are witnessing a tectonic shift in Australian politics," Watson-Brown told The Guardian, "and Queensland is leading the way."
In the key seat of central Brisbane, Stephen Bates was leading Liberal incumbent Trevor Evans by more than 10 points late Saturday.
Bates said he was inspired to enter politics while working in the United States, where he "experienced the consequences of a government that legislates people into poverty" and where he saw a colleague "crying because she had to make a decision--pay for her insulin or her rent."
"In this moment, a fire was lit inside of me and I knew I had to make sure this situation could never happen to anyone back home in Australia," he said.
In another key seat, Griffith, Max Chandler-Mather--who campaigned on a platform that includes tuition-free university, abolishing student loan debt, and building one million units of public housing-- was leading Liberal candidate Olivia Roberts and Labor incumbent Terri Butler.
\u201cThat\u2019s right!\u201d— Max Chandler-Mather (@Max Chandler-Mather) 1653089328
"Let's be very clear, we are only just getting started," vowed Chandler-Mather. "Think about how far we've come and imagine were we can go over the next 10 to 15 years if we continue on this trajectory. The biggest asset that the political establishment has is low expectations. Well tonight, we raised those expectations."
As military tensions mount between the United States and China over the Solomon Islands' decision to pursue a security pact with Beijing, former Pacific Island nation leaders on Friday reaffirmed that rising sea levels driven by climate change--not great-power geopolitical jostling--is the region's biggest threat.
"These nations have done very little to address their own greenhouse gas emissions."
The Pacific Elders Voice Group--whose members include the former leaders of the Marshall Islands, Palau, Kiribati, and Tuvalu; a Fijian ex-minister; and a former congressional delegate from the U.S. colony of Guam--issued a statement saying it "reiterates that the primary security threat to the Pacific is climate change."
"The growing military tension in the Pacific region created by both China and the United States and its allies, including Australia, does little to address the real threat to the region caused by climate change," the group asserted. "These nations have done very little to address their own greenhouse gas emissions, despite statements of intent."
\u201cWe\u2019re concerned major powers are developing strategies & policies for the #IndoPacific with little consultation with Pacific Island countries. We call on all nations to respect the sovereignty of Pacific countries & their right to develop & implement their own security strategies\u201d— PacificEldersVoice (@PacificEldersVoice) 1651189723
According to The Guardian:
Climate-induced migration has already begun from the Pacific, with people across the region forced to leave a number of island groups that are disappearing or becoming uninhabitable due to rising sea levels.
Last year's report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said global heating above 1.5degC would be "catastrophic" for Pacific Island nations and could lead to the loss of entire countries due to sea level rise within the century.
The former leaders' statement comes amid increasingly tense relations between the United States, Australia, and other allies on one side and China on the other over the latter's recent signing of a bilateral security agreement with the Solomon Islands.
While insisting that Ukraine has the sovereign right to pursue closer ties with NATO and the West, the United States has refused to rule out an invasion of the Solomon Islands if its leaders allow China to establish a military base there.
Meanwhile, as Australian media amplify calls to bomb and invade the Solomon Islands, right-wing Prime Minister Scott Morrison last week threatened that a Chinese base on the archipelago would constitute a "red line."
Firing back at Australian objections to a perceived lack of transparency surrounding the security agreement, Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare said Friday that, "I learnt of the AUKUS treaty in the media," a reference to the new trilateral treaty between the U.S., U.K., and Australia.
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"The AUKUS treaty will see nuclear submarines in Pacific waters," said Sogavare. "One would expect that as a member of the Pacific Family, Solomon Islands... would have been consulted," he added, referring to Australia's oft-derided description of regional relations, in which Canberra plays the dominant role.
Numerous analysts say AUKUS--which Beijing denounced as a return to a "Cold War" mentality that would "undermine peace and stability" in the region--was the main impetus for the China-Solomon Islands pact.
"The security and future of the Pacific must be determined primarily by Pacific Island countries and not by external powers competing over strategic interests within our region," the Pacific Elders Voice Group said in its statement. "We call on all nations to respect the sovereignty of all Pacific Island countries and the right of Pacific peoples to develop and implement their own security strategies without undue coercion from outsiders."
An assessment of the Great Barrier Reef's health released Friday reveals widespread bleaching of the world's largest coral organism, sparking fresh demands for the Australian government to ditch fossil fuels and finally commit to protecting both the UNESCO site and planetary health.
"Corals on the Great Barrier Reef are not supposed to bleach in cooler La Nina summers. 2022 is a first, thanks to anthropogenic heating."
"While not yet officially declared a mass bleaching event, this is still disastrous news for our reef, the marine life, and communities that rely on its health," said Dr. Lissa Schindler, Great Barrier Reef campaign manager with the Australian Marine Conservation Society (AMCS).
The March 18 update from the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority suggests a fourth major bleaching event since 2016 is underway and points to warmer than average sea surface temperatures--0.5-2degC above average throughout the park, with some areas ranging 2-4degC above average.
"Bleaching has been detected across the marine park--it is widespread but variable, across multiple regions, ranging in impact from minor to severe," the assessment states.
"Most observations of bleaching have been of paling or fluorescing," the update continues, "but several locations have whole colonies bleached white"--a status "consistent with the patterns of heat stress experienced on the reef this summer."
\u201cThis is the fourth bleaching event since 2016 - that's a rate of more than once every two years.\u26a0\ufe0fThis devastating news comes as new research shows Australia is set to blow its emissions budget by more than double. (short thread)\u201d— WWF_Australia (@WWF_Australia) 1647582751
Of particular note, say reef defenders, is that the widespread bleaching comes during a La Nina year, which can help cool waters.
"This is a sure sign that climate change caused by burning coal, oil, and gas is threatening the very existence of our reef," declared Greenpeace Australia Pacific climate impacts campaigner Martin Zavan.
According to bleaching expert Prof. Terry Hughes, "Corals on the Great Barrier Reef are not supposed to bleach in cooler La Nina summers. 2022 is a first, thanks to anthropogenic heating."
Hughes also pointed to the marine park authority's aerial surveys that "reveal (so far) a footprint of mass bleaching similar to 2017, when the central 500km region was hardest hit."
"How many more maps will it take to trigger real reductions in greenhouse gas emissions?" he asked.
\u201cScientists were shocked by the severity & scale of coral bleaching on the #GreatBarrierReef in 1998, the hottest year (then) on record. \n\nIt set the benchmark for \u201cmass\u201d bleaching. \n\nAnd then it got worse & more frequent.\n\nBleaching in 2022 is the 4th time in just 6 years.\u201d— Terry Hughes (@Terry Hughes) 1647435666
The right-wing government of Prime Minister Scott Morrison has faced sustained criticism from climate campaigners for doubling down on fossil fuel projects amid the planetary emergency. The prime minister also drew sharp criticism last year after launching a successful lobbying effort to keep the reef off a list of World Heritage Sites considered "in danger." Reporting earlier this month that the Australian government pushed for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change to soften its assessment of the reef being "in crisis" sparked additional criticism.
In a lengthy Twitter thread Friday, Greenpeace Australia Pacific CEO David Ritter debunked Morrison's claims of having protected the reef and pointed to the government's multiple climate failures.
"Preserving the reef would require clear and meaningful climate action, like a meaningful net-zero plan and a moratorium on new coal, oil, and gas projects," said Ritter. "Instead, Australia was recently ranked last out of 170 nations for climate action."
Ritter also noted that last year his group "delivered legal notice directly to Scott Morrison [and] advised he is in breach of his World Heritage Treaty obligations to protect the reef."
"So, it's time to cut the crap," he added. "We know the reef is in danger, but we also know how to protect it."
Addressing the prime minister, Ritter said, "Do your job to safeguard Australians and our magnificent natural heritage, by speeding up our transition to clean energy and urgently phasing out fossil fuels."
The update was released just days before UNESCO's reef monitoring mission begins.
AMCS's Schindler said that the mission delegates must "witness the severity and widespread nature of this devastating event and while out there the Morrison government should explain to the mission why they continue to approve and cut red tape for fossil fuel projects."