ANTaR is a peoples’ movement, committed to the rights and perspectives of Indigenous peoples to determine their own future with the support of the Australian People. ANTaR coordinates a major national community education and awareness campaign on native title, reconciliation and other issues. This includes: maintaining close liaison with Indigenous leaderships and communities; conducting national campaigns and lobbying on Indigenous affairs issues; and conducting education and awareness projects targeted at non-Indigenous Australians and international audiences. ANTaR's purpose has always been to support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people speaking for themselves, rather than to speak for them. Central to ANTaR's activities has been the Sea of Hands. Over 300,000 Australians have put their signatures on a hand in the Sea of Hands and helped in its installation in locations around Australia.
ANTaR
To get involved you join your local ANTaR group, or take action on specific campaigns such as those addressing constitutional, health and justice inequality and implementation of the United Nations human rights charter. ANTaR holds a number of events throughout the year to promote key campaign issues or celebrate important dates on the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander calendar. Find out what's happening near you.
Australian Farmers' Markets Association
AFMA works to preserve farmland and sustainable agriculture; to support and stimulate the trading and growth of independent primary producers, hobby farmers, community and home gardeners, and associated artisan; to provide people with regular supplies of fresh food and access to improved nutrition and contribute to community health.
Take a look at the AFMA directory to find your local market, and become a member if you're a grower.
Australian Psychedelic Society
The Australian Psychedelic Society (APS) seeks to empower the Australia’s psychedelic community to benefit, enjoy and contribute to their culture in a safe and supportive environment. A variety of activities are coordinated throughout the year, which focus on the following areas.
Delivering a range of educational and cultural events so the psychedelic community can connect and create greater cohesion from which social change can arise.
Advocating for the interests of the psychedelic community, APS provides an informed and balanced voice in political and social forums. Submissions to Government inquiries address issues with legislation and policy based on best practice, human rights and harm reduction.
Facilitating the creation and delivery of educational resources focusing on reducing harms, maximising benefits and promoting best practice.
Seeking to reduce the stigma associated with psychedelics by educating the broader community based on evidence, including peer reviewed research.
The APS website and social media sites provide a range of information on local psychedelic events, cutting edge research, along with articles relating to best practice and the therapeutic benefit of psychedelics.
There are various ways to get involved with APS. You can assist with organising local events, help out with administration, campaigns and advocacy. If you would like to get involved please use the website contact form or send us an email.
At our website you can find out about news, events and subscribe to our newsletter. You can also connect with APS through Facebook and follow us on Twitter.
Australian Student Environment Network
The Australian Student Environment Network is the network of student environment groups from around Australia committed to building grassroots movements for change. We actively work for environmental and social justice through transformational and empowering collective action on a range of critical ecological and social issues. We recognise that Aboriginal sovereignty was never ceded, and work in solidarity with Aboriginal struggles. ASEN organise an annual national environment conference called Students of Sustainability, a national skillshare and local and are campaigning nationally on climate change, divestment from fossil fuels and exposing the truth about the mining industry.
There are lots of ways to get active on environmental justice issues, from joining your local campus collective to organising a national event or skillshare in your city to producing great content for our blog or magazine. There’s something for everyone and great opportunities to learn.
Climate Council
After thousands of Australians chipped in to Australia's biggest crowd-funding campaign, the abolished Climate Commission has relaunched as the new, independent Climate Council. We exist to provide independent, authoritative climate change information to the Australian public. Why? Because our response to climate change should be based on the best science available. We're a fast growing group of people made up of expert Councillors, staff, volunteers and supporters. Together we are doing everything we can to spread independent and accurate information on climate change.
Get informed about climate change! Visit the Climate Council website to see stacks of reports on all different climate issues. Support the Council by becoming a member to make sure Australia has strong independent climate research.
Commons Social Change Library
The Commons Social Change Library is an online collection of free resources.
We gather resources from Australia and around the world on a broad range of topics including campaign strategy, organising, digital campaigning, communications and media, working effectively in groups, diversity and inclusion and much more. Our materials include videos, podcasts, articles, manuals, how-to-guides, book reviews and much more.
The Commons exists to support the efforts of people working for social change by connecting you with skills and information.
Visit the website: https://commonslibrary.org/
Subscribe to our newsletter and follow us on Facebook for updates.
If you would like to contribute materials or have any questions contact a Commons librarian.
Community Exchange System Australia
The CES is a community-based exchange system that provides the means for its users to exchange their goods and services, both locally and remotely. It could also be described as a global complementary trading network that operates without money as it is commonly understood (i.e. people trade their skills and time for mutual benefit). Unlike the conventional money-based exchange system, the CES has no physical currency. There are many similar trading systems around the world, commonly know as Local Exchange Trading Systems (LETS), Mutual Credit trading systems or Time Banks. These exchange systems build community and keep wealth where it is created. The CES takes this a step further by providing the means for inter-community trading, right up to the global level.
Start trading your time and skills with others through the CES website or find a local group to get in touch with.
Conservation Council of Western Australia
CCWA is Western Australia's peak environment and sustainability group with over 90 member groups and have been an outspoken advocate for conservation and a sustainable WA for over 45 years. We work with community, government and industry towards a more sustainable future for Western Australia. We work on policy development and legislative change, consultation, campaigning, submission writing, and environmental education. We provide support and a forum for other conservation groups. We liaise directly with the Government, media departments, community groups, and political parties. We are looking beyond short-term profit and instead working towards a clean economy in WA that provides opportunities without polluting the environment.
Want to get active on an issue important to you and the planet? You can volunteer in the office, from home or in the community. Let us know what you would like to do by filling in our online volunteer form and we will get back to you to discuss possibilities.
End Coal
We are environmental, social justice and health advocates who are concerned about coal’s heavy toll on human health, our natural environment and the planet’s climate. We come from around the world – from Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, Latin America and the United States – and together we share a vision of a sustainable future powered by clean renewable energy delivered by the sun, the wind, the oceans and the heat from the core of our earth. We developed this site to provide a resource for local communities, activists, students and researchers who would like to learn more about why coal is not the solution to the world’s energy needs and how you can work to stop the expansion of coal and promote better alternatives for meeting energy needs.
Use our resources and reports to support your own campaign, sign up to End Coal's mail list to stay up to date, take part in actions listed on the website and get in touch to become more involved.
Environs Kimberley
Environs Kimberley or EK is the peak conservation organisation for the Kimberley region, one of the world’s last wilderness areas. Our natural habitats are facing unprecedented threats from too frequent fires, feral animals, weeds, broadscale land-clearing, dams and encroaching industrial development. Native mammals are disappearing. Through its West Kimberley Nature Project, EK is working with Aboriginal ranger groups to better manage the threats to the region. Miners are exploring 25,000 km² for coal, over 120,000 km² for shale gas, that would be extracted by ‘fracking’, and more than 10,000 km² for bauxite. (Sydney’s urban area covers 1687 km²). The region is also facing exploration for oil, iron ore, copper, diamonds, rare earths, lead, zinc and uranium.
To get involved, become a member and receive invites to events and updates on how you can be actively involved in campaigns.
Equal Love
Equal love formed in 2004 when the Howard government changed the marriage act to purposefully discriminate against non heterosexual couples. It has now been over nine years since the Australian government amended the Marriage Act to to state that marriage in an institution between a man and a woman to the exclusion of all others. That's nine years of state-sanctioned discrimination is seven years too many! At our demonstrations we often have local celebrities, entertainers and community groups leading the marches and Equal Love is famous for organising the annual mid-winter vows at held at the registry office in the month that the law was changed (August). In 2009 we set a new world record – for the largest mass illegal wedding ever.
We encourage others to get on board and play whatever role they can in making the demonstrations bigger and better. Every year our protests have received national media coverage, taking our cause to the living rooms of millions of Australians. By putting equal rights issues in the public spotlight, we challenge homophobia and discrimination and promote greater acceptance of our community.
Extinction Rebellion (XR)
We are facing an unprecedented global emergency. Life on Earth is in crisis: scientists agree we have entered a period of abrupt climate breakdown, and we are in the midst of a mass extinction of our own making.The time for denial is over. It is time to act. Conventional approaches of voting, lobbying, petitions and protest have failed because powerful political and economic interests prevent change. Our strategy is therefore one of non-violent, disruptive civil disobedience – a rebellion.
Historical evidence shows that we need the involvement of 3.5% of the population to succeed. Join your local Rebellion group and take part in civil disobedience. The global Spring Rebellion starts 7 Oct 2019.
Footprints for Peace
Footprints for Peace create participatory moving communities in America and Australia that aim to create change through peaceful action. FFP walks and bike rides deepen our understanding of spiritual, cultural, and environmental issues. Our aim is to educate, inspire, and empower individuals and communities in a building a sustainable future. Regular events include the Walk for a Sustainable Future, Run for Freedom, Bikes Not Bombs ride and the Nuclear Free Future campaign. In Australia, FFP are part of an alliance of groups who organise an annual month long walk on sacred land in Western Australia raising awareness about the uranium industry and its impact on Aboriginal communities. In 2013, FFP walked from Cairns to Gladstone to raise awareness of threats to the Great Barrier Reef.
Take part in a FFP walk or bike ride or help organise.
Fossil Free
If it is wrong to wreck the climate, then it is wrong to profit from that wreckage. We believe that educational and religious institutions, city and state governments, and other institutions that serve the public good should divest from fossil fuels. We want institutions to immediately freeze any new investment in fossil fuel companies, and divest from direct ownership and any commingled funds that include fossil fuel public equities and corporate bonds within 5 years. Fossil Free, a campaign run by 350.org are supporting local collectives to run campaigns at their universities and other institutions across the globe.
There are local groups in WA, NT, Vic, NSW and the ACT. (The Australian Student Environment Network have also started the Lock the Campus campaign to make our universities fossil free.) Take a look at the Fossil Free website to see if there's a campaign on your campus or institution, join in or start your own. Contact ASEN or check out the Lock the Campus campaign for local support.
Free West Papua - Perth
We are a group of people from Perth from human rights, political and environmental backgrounds, a number of whom have spent time in West Papua. Our leadership comes from Papuan representatives here in the UK, and in West Papua itself.
The people of West Papua have been suffering under Indonesian occupation since 1962. Over 500,000 civilians have been killed, and thousands more have been raped, tortured and imprisoned. Foreign media and human rights groups are banned from operating in West Papua, so people rarely hear about the situation there. The Free West Papua Campaign is bringing the story of West Papua to the world and campaigning for freedom and justice in West Papua, to end the violence of the last 50 years.
We are a peaceful, public campaign, whose aim is very simple: to give the people of West Papua the freedom to choose their own destiny through a fair and transparent referendum – a freedom they have always been denied. We work with politicians of all parties, and also with other NGOs and campaign groups, both national and international, towards this aim.
You can support the campaign by signing up to our newsletter, coming along to fundraising events and helping to spread the word about the situation in West Papua.
Fremantle Road to Rail
In the past few years the Department of Transport’s focus has shifted away from rail as a means of transporting freight destined for Fremantle Port. In order to right the balance, a group of concerned community members have decided to launch a public campaign dedicated to moving freight onto rail. We are alarmed at the declining percentage of freight on rail, which has fallen from 17% in 2007 to 11% in 2011. With the decisions to double container volume at Fremantle Port by 2017 and to have the Port grow for the next 50 years, it is important that the government invest now in the rail infrastructure to support it.
Contact us by email to get involved and join in our events.
Friends of the Earth Melbourne
Friends of the Earth believes that social and environmental issues cannot be separated from each other, and therefore operates on a collective non-hierarchical basis. FoE applies a human rights perspective to all campaigns, which means that FoE tackles many issues outside the normal preserve of 'environmental' organisations. A large network of volunteers make FoE what it is. FoE Melbourne has a number of collectives working on campaigns including: anti uranium, food and agriculture, forest network, Barmah - Millewa red gums, Indigenous solidarity, climate change, trade and corporate camapaigns.
FoE encourages people to take action as individuals by making their own lifestyles ecologically sustainable as well as applying pressure to those who make decisions affecting the environment. Contact individual collectives to get involved in specific campaigns. Visit the FoE organic food co-op. Use the activist resources available through FoE, the campaign centre, office space and notice boards to get the word out about your campaign.
Grow it Local
Grow it Local is a project that celebrates backyard, balcony, community and windowsill food farming. It’s about local food producers, bringing people together and having a little fun. You can put your own garden on the map, find other growers and take part in food sharing events. We have a wonderful community of growers regularly sharing tips via facebook and meeting up in person to share feasts. We're encouraging crowd farming on a grand scale.
Put your patch on the map! Register your backyard, balcony, community or windowsill garden. You can update your patch with pictures & tips. We’ll let you know about opportunities to share your produce and attend special Grow It Local food events via our e-newsletter.
Indymedia
Indymedia (also known as The Independent Media Center or IMC) is a global participatory network of journalists that report on political and social issues. It originated during the Seattle anti-WTO protests worldwide in 1999 and remains closely associated with the global justice movement, which criticizes neo-liberalism and its associated institutions. Indymedia uses an open publishing and democratic media process that allows anybody to contribute. Indymedia Australia is a collective providing a platform for grassroots media-makers to create radical, accurate, and passionate coverage of struggles and movements working for social, environmental and economic justice. Everyone is a witness. Everyone is a journalist.
To get involved beyond publishing on the site you should generally come along to the Indymedia meeting nearest to you. Please use the contact form on the website to find out when and where the next meeting is.
Landcare Australia
Landcare is a national network of thousands of locally-based community groups who care for the natural resources of our country. Australia is proud to boast more than 4000 community Landcare groups, 2000 Coastcare groups and many thousands of volunteers across the country. Through Australia’s people and communities, the Landcare movement is making a big difference in caring for our country improving farmlands, rehabilitating water ways, looking after coastal and marine environments, planting millions of native trees, restoring wildlife habitats and addressing environmental issues in urban areas.
Take a look at the national Landcare directory to find a local Landcare group or project, or find an event near you on the national calendar.
Lock the Campus
Part of the global Fossil Free campaign, Lock the Campus run by the Australian Student Environment Network offers resources and excellent information for students wanting to make sure their university stops investing in the fossil fuel industry. The website offers a critique of the relationship between public institutions and industry and information on how to expose the links your uni has with the fossil fuel industry and pressure them to change.
To get involved, visit the website, sign the declaration, investigate your university and find out how to organise on your own campus.
Lock the Gate Alliance
Lock The Gate Alliance is a national coalition of community groups from across Australia who are uniting to protect our common heritage - our land, water and future - from reckless coal and gas expansions. In a David-and-Goliath struggler of farmers against mining giants, everyday citizens against global corporations, our communities are choosing grace under fire and displaying incredible courage, integrity and imagination. Join us to become part of this inspiring social movement.
Join landholders all over the nation by locking your gate to coal seam gas and coal mining. A sign on your gate clearly shows that you do not give permission for coal seam gas and mining companies to enter your property. Approach your council and ask them to oppose the approval or renewal of unconventional gas licences (see the list of councils who have already done this on our site). Find the closest Lock the Gate group near you or start your own group.
Margaret River Regional Environment Centre
The Margaret River Regional Environment Centre was established to provide and disseminate information for locals and tourists alike, about political, social, cultural and spiritual environmental happenings in this region. We hope to have people use the centre for gaining and giving information; networking happenings between people in the community who wish to be involved; as a meeting place for like minded people to discuss environmental issues, strategies, and projects; and to use the building for meetings, workshops and gatherings for environmental purposes. At present we have displays on fauna, coastcare, development proposals, recycling, forests, sand mining, and Aboriginal information.
Come and visit the centre, get involved in workshops or contact us to volunteer.
No to Homophobia
No To Homophobia is a partnership between human rights and anti-violence groups and is the first campaign of its kind to be broadcast on mainstream national television. The campaign aims to challenge all forms of harassment and discrimination faced by lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer (LGBTIQ) people, whether in the workplace or in social situations. The campaign aims to reduce the incidence of homophobic, biphobic and transphobic harassment in Victoria (and beyond) by empowering both LGBTIQ people and the broader community to respond to and speak out against this harassment.
If you or someone you know has been subject to homophobic harassment, or if you have witnessed an incident of homophobic harassment, you can do something about it. Make the promise to stop homophobia, find support and find out how to take action. Harassment is a community issue that affects everyone. Whether you are gay, lesbian, trans, bisexual or straight and whether you are receiving or witnessing harassment we encourage you to take action and stop the harm.
Oxfam
We’ve been fighting poverty and injustice for more than 50 years. But what exactly does this mean? Poor people can take control, solve their own problems, and rely on themselves – with the right support. We fund long-term projects around the world and work in a range of areas, from water and sanitation to education and health, to bring about positive change in people’s lives. Poverty isn’t just about lack of resources. In a wealthy world it’s about bad decisions made by powerful people. We form part of a global movement of people committed to achieving a fairer world by: encouraging action for change by individuals, partnering with organisations and government to change policy, and empowering communities in developing countries to realise their rights. We also provide aide during emergencies and prepare people for future crisis.
To get involved, volunteer with us, take part in one of many community events, buy fair trade at an Oxfam shop or online, take action on specific issues and learn how to campaign through our website.
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