On Saturday 30th June, JRS staff and students spent a sunny Saturday at “Activate 2770!” a Pasifika and First Nations-led community day at Bidwill Square.  

Activate 2770! was more than just a community event. It’s purpose was to engage the community in advocacy, and we are proud to share the day with other stallholders that ran activities and actions to advocate for better outcomes for the community here and internationally. 

At JRS, climate change intersects and resonates with our work both in its impact upon forcibly displaced communities, and in other spaces and systems of injustice. Climate justice is a core tenet that motivates us towards advocating for, and building, a more just, safe, and sustainable future for everyone in Australia, and around the world. 

We recognise that the impacts of climate change are particularly acute – and unjust – for communities in low-lying island Pacific Island nations. For some of these communities, climate-related displacement presents a real and existential threat, raising a myriad of cultural, socio-economic, and emotional concerns.  

We also know we have a strong Pasifika community here in Australia, many of whom are leaders in climate action, and have firsthand experience of migration in the context of climate change.

During the day, we asked the community to vote: ‘Should ‘Australia’ do more to support the Pasifika community impacted by climate change?’  

People voted yes with our interactive activity, and these are some of the messages they wrote to decision makers:  

• ‘Open to community dialogue re: climate change’  

• “Bring people that are directly impacted to be part of the conversation’  

• ‘Save Tuvalu!’ 

• ‘Less talk, more action needed for climate change’  

• ‘Everyone should be able to feel safe and happy’  

JRS Australia is seeking to listen, learn, and build our partnerships within this region, so that we can be better allies within this space, as these challenges are set to grow. 

We thank Kulture Keepers for inviting us to host a stall on the day, and to Fresh Promotions for supplying us with free JRS pens  for us to share with the community.