Seed
$40,000 | August 2021
What do Seed do?
Seed brings together and builds the capacity of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people to organise in their communities and take action together on campaigns that will have the biggest impact on stopping the climate crisis and building strong, sustainable communities for their people. They focus on energy because we believe that by transitioning Australia’s energy system away from fossil fuels to renewables we can have the greatest impact on climate change.
Why is this work important?
Since colonisation, First Nations people and our knowledge systems have been deliberately oppressed and left behind, to the great detriment of communities and environments that had been sustainably cared for since time immemorial. Thus, climate change and racial injustice are deeply interlinked, and in addressing them we can create a more just and sustainable world for everyone.
How is Groundswell supporting this work?
Over the next 12 months Seed will be focussed on the following four key strategic objectives:
1. Investing in Seed’s foundations and organisational sustainability; growing the size and capacity of staff team and strengthening our structures and systems to enable long-term growth, impact and sustainability. This includes hiring for and supporting Seed’s first Senior Executive Leadership team, and setting up our First Nations Board of Directors.
2. Training and movement building - by hosting transformative events and training programs to grow the skills, capacity and size of Seed’s grassroots volunteer network. This includes a national volunteer summit, an intensive leadership training program as well as state & regional climate justice bootcamps.
3. Leading campaigns for climate justice - continue to campaign for a ban on fracking in the Northern Territory (and beyond) and developing a framework for Seed’s solidarity with other campaigns, communities and movements.
4. Elevating the voices of First Nations people through creative storytelling, media, content development and shifting the narrative.
Grant update
2021-2022 has been all about balancing impact whilst laying the foundations for the new organisation. With Groundswell’s support, here is but some of Seed’s acomplishments:
Stopping public money for fracking - Federal Senate Inquiry
As a direct result of Traditional Owners travelling thousands of kilometres from remote Northern Territory to Canberra in June, to urge federal politicians to listen to their concerns about fracking, we were successful in lobbying the senate to establish a parliamentary inquiry into public funding for oil and gas exploration in the NT’s Beetaloo basin.
Together with the First Nations Justice team at GetUp, we have since been supporting Traditional Owners to have their voices heard through the inquiry process. Given the challenges of the pandemic, this work requires us to be on the ground supporting mob to meaningfully engage and present evidence, which otherwise would not be possible due to barriers regarding accessibility and resources required to do so.
An interim report was released in late August, which added yet more evidence to what Traditional Owners have been saying for decades: fracking corporations do not have consent to frack on country and the government should not be handing out public money to a dangerous and dodgy industry.
Turning up the heat on Origin Energy at their AGM
Origin Energy is one of the largest, well-known energy & retail companies in Australia, and they are amongst those who want to be the first to start fracking in the NT. Since 2018, Seed have been working in alliance with other eNGOs to raise awareness about Origin’s risky fracking plans and call on their customers, shareholders, staff and members of the public to encourage them to live up to their “good energy” branding, by listening to Traditional Owners and walk away from fracking.
Two weeks out from Origin Energy’s Annual General Meeting (AGM), Seed hosted a virtual Town Hall along with GetUp and Lock the Gate. During this event, we heard from Traditional Owners who have told Origin Energy time and time again that they don’t want their lands and waters to be fracked, and have not given consent to these dangerous and extractive gas projects.
We had a huge turn out with over 3,000 people gathering online to hear these stories. They were all then invited to take a cheeky action with us - sending an email calendar invitation to the CEO of Origin Energy, Frank Calabria, reminding him of our message: Don’t Frack the NT.
Hundreds of invitations have since flooded his inbox, and we can’t wait to see the response! This storytelling event, centered around the experiences and concerns of Traditional Owners, was really important for building connection to the campaign for our supporters across the country who are taking action in solidarity. Since then, we have seen supporters plastering their local communities with posters and stickers, flooding Origin’s complaint line with fracking related messages, brand jamming Origin on their social media accounts, and having important conversions with their networks to spread awareness.
We then worked with the GetUp First Nations Justice team & Market Forces to support Traditional Owners to attend the AGM as proxy holders. Just like years prior, the AGM was flooded with questions about Origin’s failure to obtain proper consent and the risks associated with fracking to water, country and the climate. Together, we made it clear that fracking is a key issue for Origin’s shareholders and presents significant reputational risks to the company, but just like last year, our important questions were met with dismissive answers.
Elevating the voices and leadership of First Nations people
Seed has been hosting regular educational ‘Heal Country Webinars’ which are public and open for anyone to join. This webinar series aims to create a platform for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to have conversations about what ‘healing country’ looks like in their community and in the work that they do.
Our speakers have ranged from grassroots activists leading frontline campaigns, to artists, mothers, and health & wellbeing experts, Recent topics have included “Healing Country | Through Our Art”, “Healing Country | On The Frontline” and “Healing Country | Healing us”.
Creating these events not only educates the broader public, but also ties directly into our work of creatively elevating the voices and leadership of First Nations people across the country.
