Less than five minutes after residents participating in Climate Action Port Stephens' rally in Raymond Terrace on Wednesday held up their signs, a man in a ute stopped at traffic lights leaned out of his window with a megaphone to repeatedly state "you're wrong".
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Rally organiser and CAPS founder Alisha Onslow responded in kind stating, also with a megaphone, "we're right".
The brief interchange came as no surprise to Medowie mother Geraldine Radley who took part in the rally, which coincided with World Children's Day.
"We get this type of thing a lot," she said. "Even if we are wrong, what the worse that could happen? We live in a more respectful and cleaner place?"
Ms Radley, who was joined at the November 20 rally by her young daughter, said she attends as many climate affirmative events as she can, most recently the large one in Newcastle on September 20.
She said she attended the Raymond Terrace rally to do what she could to raise awareness about climate change.
"It been talked about a lot at the moment. I think the more you can keep it in people's mind maybe they'll start thinking it's something real that they can do something about," she said.
The aim of the rally was to 'stand up for children's climate rights during World Children's Day'.
Ms Onslow said it was to highlight "the rights of our children to a safe climate" and to call on the "Australian government to act urgently to safeguard our children's future by taking immediate, adequate action to solve the climate crisis".
The group of about 30 people who took part in the rally on Wednesday held up signs stating 'climate emergency', 'fossil fuels, no thanks', 'let's do it for the kids, save mother earth' and 'climate change is real'.
EARLIER STORY: Climate day of action on November 20
They stood on the corner of Adelaide and William Streets, across from the police station, before walking down William Street to Port Stephens Street and past state MP Kate Washington's office.
Fingal Bay resident Dale Allison carried the national flag for Kiribati, an island republic in the Central Pacific, that is tipped to become the first nation to be submerged by water due to global warming.
"We lived over there for four years and we keep going back, we work over there on a DFAT project," Ms Allison said.
"My partner is redesigning all the primary schools so when there is flooding, families in the villages can get out of knee-high sea water and sleep in the school.
"I've been worrying about climate change for quite a long time."
Members of the Australian Parents for Climate Action and Port Stephens Greens joined the rally on Wednesday where signatures were also collected for a petition to have Port Stephens join other councils around Australia in declaring 'a climate emergency'.
Nelson Bay resident and Greens member Nigel Waters said the petition called for three core actions: declare a state of climate emergency, commit to a target of 100 per cent renewable energy for council operations by 2025 and commit to a target of zero carbon emissions for the Port Stephens community by 2040.
"We need council to show some leadership in the community and get people to take the climate emergency more seriously. It doesn't matter how much council is doing behind the scenes, and they are doing a fair bit, unless they take that leadership role and demonstrates to the community hat this is something everyone in the community needs to take seriously," he said.
In September, Port councillors voted down a notice of motion from Labor's Giacomo Arnott to declare a 'climate emergency', with the majority of councillors saying that Port Stephens was leading the way with environmental change and in areas such as waste recycling, solar energy and conservation.
They adopted an amendment put forward by Cr Glen Dunkley calling on the council to: acknowledge the work it and the community have done to address climate change across Port Stephens; acknowledge that ongoing action is needed on climate change to ensure a sustainable future for Port Stephens; engage with the community and business to obtain suggestions for initiatives to reduce their impact on climate change; and identify initiatives to reduce council's impact on climate change with an associated funding strategy.
At the time Cr Arnott said that he would bringing the motion back to be debated at council every three months until a 'climate emergency' motion was passed.
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Ellie-Marie Watts
A journalist with 10 years experience, Ellie-Marie connects readers to the stories that matter in their communities. A Port Stephens-based news, sport and event writer and photographer with a passion for human interest features.
A journalist with 10 years experience, Ellie-Marie connects readers to the stories that matter in their communities. A Port Stephens-based news, sport and event writer and photographer with a passion for human interest features.
