Can you take a couple of minutes to write a personal message to Murray Watt, the Australian Minister for the Environment and Water? Let’s tell him that the world is watching!

Here are some talking points you can use as inspiration – but please write in your own words as personal messages are the most powerful:

• Sacred First Nations land must be protected: Barrambin has been a gathering place for the Yagara Traditional Custodians for thousands of years. When First Nations elders formally request federal protection for a sacred site, that call must be respected and acted upon.
• Better alternatives exist: There are suitable sites available for Olympic infrastructure that would avoid destroying sacred land, nature, and public space. Development should not come at the cost of irreplaceable cultural heritage when other options are on the table.
• Climate reality demands protection of green space: Victoria Park is Brisbane’s largest inner-city green space, home to wildlife and ancient trees that help cool the city during intensifying heatwaves. In a time of climate crisis, destroying vital urban green space would be a serious step backwards, stripping residents of a cooling refuge just when heatwaves are becoming more intense and dangerous.
• Australia’s global image and Olympic legacy are at stake: The Brisbane 2032 Games will take place. Australia in the global spotlight. Destroying sacred First Nations land and one of the city’s most important public green spaces for stadium construction would leave a lasting stain on the country’s reputation and the Games’ legacy. Protecting Barrambin would show true leadership and respect.

----

More Information:

Right now, in Magandjin (Brisbane), the government is preparing to bulldoze 700 years of history for 21 days of games.

There are plenty of other places to build – but instead officials will destroy Barrambin (Victoria Park), an ancient gathering place for First Nations People that is home to ancient trees, wildlife, and wetlands that cool the city.

The Federal Environment Minister has the power to stop this immediately by granting protection. First Nations elders formally requested it months ago — but the decision is still delayed. And time is running out.

So local partners have asked for our help: a global flood of attention can turn this from a quiet administrative decision into a high-stakes political moment for the Minister.

Lets flood the Minister email with our personal messages calling him to save Victoria park — Send your message now.

Photo credit: Save Victoria Park group