Heal Country Declaration

For too long young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander voices have not been included in conversations about the climate crisis. Across the globe, young First Nations people are inheriting the consequences of your climate inaction - that’s why we’re standing up for the future we want to see. 

Climate change impacts us first and foremost as First Nations people - an attack on Country is an attack on us. The health of our Mob, our culture, our future, and our Country are all interconnected. If we - as First Nations people - lose our Country and our connection to Country, who are we? We become disconnected to our identity and to our Ancestors. Our cultural practices and songlines depend on Country - we cannot learn from Country and our Ancestors if Country is not there for us to return to.

We are one of the youngest generations of the oldest continuing cultures on earth and we have cultural responsibilities and moral obligations to make sure that our cultures and humanity at large continues for generations ahead of us.

That's why Seed Mob’s national network of grassroots volunteers are demanding the following: 

1. No more public money handouts to fossil fuel corporations. These handouts are an insult to Traditional Owners in the Northern Territory and First Nations communities right across the continent who spend everyday fighting back against the dangerous fossil fuel industry.
   
   
2. Instead, public money should be invested into our communities and our futures. Public money is meant for public good, not to line the pockets of fossil fuel executives. With real investment into our communities and futures, we can see a just transition towards renewable energy, with First Nations leadership at the front.
   
   
3. First Nations people should be leading the solutions to the climate crisis. We should be given the power and self determination to care for our land, our Country and our people our way - just like we have, sustainably for 60,000+ years without the colony’s interference.
   
   

As political leaders, it's your job to safeguard our collective futures. If this election has shown us anything, it’s that people overwhelmingly voted for climate action - it’s your job to step up and act. You must invest public money into supporting our communities through public services, sustainable and renewable energy developments, and solutions led by and for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

We must act now for the sake of all of us, Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples alike, as well as all wildlife great and small, who call this beautiful and diverse country home.