Solidarity with the Environmental Defender's Office

2 February 2024

Statement from the Secretary

The Environmental Defenders Office is an iconic organisation among those that work every day to defend our planet for the future.

In December, thanks to the tireless work of the Knitting Nannas and ASU members at the Environmental Defenders Office, part of NSW's draconian anti-protest laws were found to be unconstitutional, but we can't rest until they are entirely repealed.
  
Now Liberal Party leader Peter Dutton made his first election promise to defund the Environmental Defenders Office (EDO).

This attack is an attack on all community workers and we stand in solidarity with the ASU members who do incredible important work at the EDO.

 
The extraordinary people who work as environmental defenders are respected for their professionalism and commitment in the communities in which they work.
 
The EDO is always there on the frontline; working to protect country and culture, habitats, wildlife, and water, and defending those of us who are activists and advocates against climate change.
 
As Branch Secretary of the ASU, I am proud every day that our union represents workers at the EDO.
 
The attacks on the Environmental Defender’s Office in recent weeks have been vicious and cowardly. They display the worst excesses of those who believe in piranha greed over a sustainable planet; that there is no place for peaceful protest and that the Environmental Defender’s Office is a threat to be eliminated.
 
I hope that these cowardly attacks serve to remind people of the vital work of the EDO and the whole environmental movement and encourage people to support them.  
 
I am proud that you are members of the ASU.  I am proud to represent you and I am proud to stand with you every day.
 
In union
 
Angus McFarland