Steve Shallhorn, Chief Executive Officer, Greenpeace Australia Pacific Ltd.

Climate Change is recognised as a significant threat to our future and one requiring an enormous community response. Environmentalists, community organisation and unions have a long history of working together on progressive causes. These include the campaign to close the Jabiluka mine, the Green Bans imposed by the Builders Laborer's Federation and campaigns around nuclear disarmament.

The Camp for Climate Action is similarly about everyday people taking action to protect our children's future from catastrophic climate change, calling the Federal Government's attention to the extreme urgency of the climate challenge. The Government's lack of action to address our reliance on coal as the major contribution to climate change in Australia warrants unprecedented action on the part of ordinary people to avert this crisis.

Greenpeace recognises the urgency of an immediate response to climate change. We support the calls to withdraw the approval for the new Newcastle coal loader, for a moratorium on new coal mines and coal-fired power stations, to rapidly reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to drive an urgent and socially just transition from coal to renewable energy. This can be achieved through green job creation and retraining in sustainable industries, and without compromising worker and community rights. We endorse the Camp for Climate Action community protest on July 13.