ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Ngalla kaadijt Wadjuk Noongar moort, nidja boodja koora koora wer kalyakoorl Wadjuk Noongar Boodja.

Ngalla kaaditj baalabiny moort djiraly-ak wer koongal-ak wer boyal-ak. Ngalla kaaditj djinaniny kep, boodja-k wer worl.

Ngalla kaaditj ngaalang nedigar wer boordiya koora koora wer yeyi.

Ngalla ni wer djinaniny wer kaartidjin.

We acknowledge the Wadjuk Noongar people and we acknowledge this Country always has and forever will be Wadjuk Noongar Country. We acknowledge their families to the North, the East and the South and recognise their continuing connection to land, waters and sky. We pay our respects to our ancestors and  Elders past and present.

We are listening, observing and learning.                          

We acknowledge the Wadjuk people have preserved and protected their Boodja and Moort (family), sustaining cultural traditions and practices that look after the land and waters. They have maintained, despite incredible barriers and disruption, their culture and languages which are now being revitalised and celebrated. We acknowledge the first Climate Justice Union office is on the land of the Wadjuk Noongar people.                        

Acknowledgement of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples across what we now know as Australia.

We acknowledge that we begin our work as The Climate Justice Union on the Boodja (land) of the Wadjuk people of the Noongar Nation. We honour the Wadjuk people and their kin in other Nations and Country across these lands and waters, who have always cared for this place and all who lived here.

We acknowledge First Nations Elders past and present, and acknowledge that those of us living here, who came from across the seas, live on land that was taken, stolen. We acknowledge the responsibility that comes with this understanding and that we personally and collectively benefit from this theft. As such, we all have a responsibility to decolonise ourselves, our lives and work, and to heal the harm these oppressive systems have inflicted.

 We are deeply grateful that First Nations peoples continue to generously share their knowledge with community, gifting those of us from elsewhere with protection and hospitality. Those of us (from non-Aboriginal backgrounds) within the Climate Justice Union, in our personal and professional lives, will live and work in ways that are just, and that centre First Nations authority and power. We take our responsibility seriously and seek to further understand our obligations to country, culture and community.  

We acknowledge the wisdom of country, that the seasons teach us, and that the impacts of climate disruption are another form of colonialism. We understand the settler story is but a footnote to the oldest continuous living culture and appreciate we have much to learn.  We are listening, seeing and learning. We understand our collective responsibility for all people, for country and for our relations in the animal world.

We respect the many Nations and language* groups of the place we call Western Australia where the Climate Justice Union WA operates. 

We acknowledge the Amangu, Andajin, Badimaya, Ballardong, Banyjima, Bardi, Bayungu, Binigura, Bunuba, Burduna, Cundeelee wangka, Doolboong, Gajirrawoong, Guwij, Jabirrjabirr, Jaru, Jiwarli, Jugun, Juwaliny, Kaalamaya, Kaneang, Karajarri, Kariyarra, Kartujarra, Kija, Koreng, Kukatja, Kurrama, Kuwarra, Maduwongga, Malgana, Malngin, Mangala, Manyjilyjarra, Marlpa, Maya, Martu Wangka, Martuthunira, Mineng, Miriwoong, Mirning, Munumburru, Ngaanyatjarra, Ngaatjatjara, Ngadju, Ngalia, Ngardi, Ngarla (Ngarlawangga), Ngarla, Ngarluma, Ngarnawu, Ngumbari, Nhanda, Nimanburru, Njakinjaki, Njunga, Nyamal, Nyanatjarra, Nyangumarta, Nyikina, Nyiyaparli, Nyulnyul, Palyku, Pibelmen, Pindjarup, Pintupi, Pitjantjatjarra, Putijarra, Thalanyji, Tharrkari, Thiin, Tjupan, Umiida, Unggarrangu, Unggumi, Wajarri, Walmajarri, Wangkajunga, Wangkatja, Wanyjirra, Wardandi, Warlpiri, Warnman, Warriyangka, Warrwa, Whadjuk (Wadjuk), Wiilman, Wolyamidi, Worla, Worrorra, Wudjari, Wunumbal, Yamatji, Yankunytjatjara, Yawijibaya, Yawuru, Yiiji, Yindjibarndi, Yingkarta, Yinhawangka, Yued and the Yulparija Peoples.

We recognise their People, their Cultures, their land and waters, their Elders past and present.

We acknowledge that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples were the first sovereign Nations of this continent and its adjacent islands. This sovereignty has never been ceded.

*We have listed the names of language groups (and dialects) as identified July 2019 via the various WA Aboriginal Language Resource centres and the AITSIS map. 

Acknowledgement of science, history and the deep roots of our collective struggle.

We stand on the shoulders of those who have come before us.

We at Climate Justice Union join the Climate Justice Collective/Green New Deal 4 Australia in acknowledging that the climate crisis did not begin in 2018 when the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change gave the world 12 years to act to avoid catastrophic climate change. Nor did it begin in 1988, when James Hansen gave testimony to the US Senate on the dire implications of the ‘greenhouse effect’.

It didn’t begin with Bob Hawke’s declaration of the need for action on greenhouse gases in 1989 or in 1856 when Eunice Foote gave a presentation hypothesising about carbon dioxide, "An atmosphere of that gas would give our earth a high temperature".

Our crisis  did not begin on the 26th of January 1788, or when European occupation of Western Australia began in January 21, 1827 - although that was and continues to be a crisis of untold suffering, stolen generations and genocide. 

Our crisis began in ideas, stories and cultures that maintained we could dominate nature..  Of cultures who decided some races were superior to others, that men were better than women and some bodies were preferred over others.. 

Our crises began when we started choosing profits for a few over the lives of many.

We at the climate justice union acknowledge our struggle for climate justice did not begin with the climate crisis.

We acknowledge those who have come before us. We acknowledge those who have protected, served and nurtured Country for millennia.  

We acknowledge the foundations of apartheid, the discriminatory immigration policies currently happening in the US and Europe, and their connection to similar policy here in Australia. We acknowledge the good people who continually stand up and demand a different world in the face of this.

We acknowledge the long history of those who struggle for justice through the Union movement.

We acknowledge our roots in the struggles of many peoples’ demanding dignity and fairness. 

Climate Justice Union works for the human rights of all people affected by the climate crisis. We acknowledge that the people who are most vulnerable to climate change are those who already experience disadvantage, marginalisation and discrimination.

This includes but is not limited to First Nations people, people of colour, women and non-binary folks, queer folks, people living in poverty, people experiencing homelessness, people on a low income, people in insecure work and at risk industries, people with disabilities, people of non-English speaking backgrounds, newly arrived migrants and refugees, children, young people and older persons, people with health problems, people living in rural and remote areas, farmers, people living in climate risk areas, and emergency responders.

Climate Justice Union acknowledges the diverse and compounding impacts of climate change on people with multiple and intersecting experiences of disadvantage. We also acknowledge the resilience, strengths and capacities of people in all of their diversities to contribute to confronting the climate crisis.