Join us at the 2024 People's Blockade of the World's Largest Coal Port
19-28 November
About us
We are the rising tide of ordinary people, called by extraordinary times. We are a diverse movement demanding Australia honours our commitment to the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement. We are prepared to take whatever peaceful actions are within our power to defend the climate.
It’s time to escalate the
defence of our climate
Time is short and the stakes could not be higher. Australia’s fossil fuel addiction is driving the world to the brink. We need to step up our defence of the climate by joining together to take mass direct action against the biggest threat to our future.
Our Demands
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1. Immediately cancel all new fossil fuel projects
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2. Tax fossil fuel export profits at 78% to fund community and industrial transition, and pay for climate loss and damage
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3. End all coal exports from Newcastle – the world’s largest coal port – by 2030
Australia’s fossil
fuel addiction
Australia is one of the world’s largest exporters of coal and gas. The emissions from these exports dwarf our domestic climate pollution. The Port of Newcastle is the biggest coal port in the world, and Australia’s single largest contributor to the climate crisis.
Our Story
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Humanity stands at a crossroads.
Scientists are warning that the next few years will determine the future for all life on Earth. We’re close to catastrophic climate tipping points and we must urgently decarbonise if we are to prevent this and embrace the massive benefits and opportunities offered by this transformation.
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There’s been some progress, but we’ve lost precious time.
Labor’s climate targets are an important shift from the Coalition’s denial and delay, but it’s not enough. Now, only urgent and far-reaching action can address the unfolding global climate crisis. At this point in history, half measures will not prevent catastrophe.
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We stand with frontline communities for climate justice.
We must listen closely and support First Nations people who resist coal and gas mining on their lands and whose cultures offer insights to a sustainable future. We must join our Pacific neighbours to demand urgent action from wealthy countries like ours, who have caused the crisis. We must unite with school kids and communities around the world to fight for climate justice against the suicidal agenda of a few dozen fossil fuel executives.
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But the fossil fuel lobby is still powerful.
The vast majority of Australians are ready to decarbonise our society and embrace a renewable energy-powered future. But the coal and gas lobby’s control of our democracy still stands in our way. Decades of evidence, community lobbying, and countless letters, petitions, rallies and other protests have not been enough to properly overcome this and bring the scale and speed of action that we need.
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We need to use our greatest superpower: civil resistance.
From the 40 hour working week, to the vote for women, from U.S. civil rights to Indian independence, to fights against uranium mining in Kakadu, the Franklin Dam and gas fracking, civil resistance has time and again brought people-powered victories. Civil resistance is the sustained, nonviolent, escalatory use of disruption by ordinary people to win against injustice. It’s brought us so much that we value in our society today.
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We must unite against Australia’s biggest contributor to climate change.
That’s why we're targeting Newcastle coal port – the largest in the world and our single largest source of global greenhouse emissions. Like the great struggles of the past, achieving climate justice will take thousands of deeply committed people, unified by common purpose. This is the defining fight of our generation and everything is at stake.
Our History
Rising Tide was one of the first grassroots climate groups in Australia. We were active in Newcastle from 2005 until 2012, when our members became involved in climate research or other climate campaigns.
We were known for our community campaigning and ground-breaking nonviolent direct actions; blockading the coal port and railways with small and large groups of people. Our members also took several of the earliest public interest legal challenges regarding the regulation of coal’s climate impacts.
Rising Tide has now restarted, as there’s an urgent need for our type of radical, but targeted and inclusive climate action.
How We Win
Our Values
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Justice
Justice is at the core of our motivations. The climate crisis is the greatest injustice ever perpetrated by the powerful few on the rest of humanity and life on Earth. We will not stand by and allow this to continue.
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Care
We defend that which is precious: all humans, other species and the natural world. We extend this care ethic to each other and ourselves. We engage with kindness and compassion – looking out for each other and respecting the needs for rest and balance in our lives.
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Community
Supportive relationships are at the heart of creating a resilient, carbon-neutral society and in building the movement to resist climate collapse. We need each other and we’re happier together. We build community through working together and making time for fun, sharing food, stories, music and art.
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Nonviolence
We value disruptive action to demand attention for our message and demands, but we will only take such action if it is nonviolent and we’ve taken great care to minimise risk to others and ourselves.
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Impact
We seek to maximise our role in defending the climate and use strategic planning and a pragmatic attitude to do so. Sometimes this will involve escalating our tactics or message, at other times it will be pragmatic to moderate our approach. As long as we remain true to our values, we will do whatever it takes and will not let ideology or ego distort our purpose.
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people have joined the movement to defend our climate against fossil fuels.
