Aussies sold out to Japanese gas companies
Extinction Rebellion Australia, 6 May 2026
PM Albo’s failure to stand up to Japanese lobbying, and the increasing war agenda of Australia and Japan’s governments triggered a protest by XR ACT and other Canberra climate groups. The action was in solidarity with protests in Sydney and other countries including Japan, Columbia and the Philippines.
The climate groups that came together in Canberra during Japanese PM Sanae Takaichi’s visit to Australia and Vietnam included the People’s Climate Assembly, Canberra Climate Activists, Extinction Rebellion Peace, Rising Tide and Fridays4Future. The Albo, Takaichi and Gas Industry puppets were provided by Mathew Armstrong.
International collaborations were organised through Jubilee Australia, with assistance from Climate Action Network Australia (CANA) and Fossil Free Japan. A joint statement from 30 civil society organisations ‘Civil Society to Takaichi: Stop Using the Hormuz Energy Crisis to Increase Asia’s Fossil Fuel Dependency‘ was released on April 30.
Japan and Australia are major trading partners and their economies are tightly connected. Japan is Australia’s largest customer for coal and gas and the Japanese government is a major financer of Australian gas expansion, underwriting major emissions-intensive LNG projects like Ichthys, Barossa and Scarborough.
In a speech on the Front Lawns of Parliament House, Canberra, John Smith from XR ACT condemned the failure of Prime Minister Albanese to stand up for everyday Australians and impose a 25% tax on gas exports.
John also pointed out that the Japanese government has changed defence export rules to allow the export of lethal weapons. Australia has entered into an agreement to purchase eleven navy frigates from Mitsubishi Heavy Industries.
John said “A week before the government announced massive cuts to the NDIS, it announced huge increases in defence spending, including providing up to $20 billion to purchase eleven navy frigates from Japan. This required a change to Japanese protocols to allow the sale of offensive weapons.”
John continued “Fossil fuels are undeniably linked to conflict and inequality. Increased military activity is exacerbating the climate crisis and yet the Australian government is spending $20 billion on warships from Japan; money that could be spent on the basics people need to prosper – education, healthcare, housing, and access to renewable energy.
“Our Japanese colleagues say that under Prime Minister Takaichi, Japan is leading the Asia-Pacific down a dangerous path of fossil fuel expansion and militarisation. We must reject this vision for the Asia-Pacific and beyond: no more weapons, no more fossil fuels.
“At a time when more than 50 countries met in Santa Marta, Colombia to transition away from fossil fuels and 99% of Southeast Asia’s solar and wind potential remains untapped, it is counter-productive to push for more fossil fuels and more militarisation.”
Collaborating climate groups across the Asia-Pacific called on the Australian and the Japanese Prime Ministers and their governments to:
- End support for unreliable, expensive fossil fuels and fossil fuel-based
technologies such as LNG, ammonia/hydrogen co-firing, biomass, and
CCS that will only exacerbate the region’s reliance on risky fossil fuels. - Redirect public finance as grants toward scaling up community-based
renewables, alongside energy efficiency, which will improve countries’
energy self-sufficiency. - Respect communities’ rights and ecosystems, ensuring that ASEAN and
Australia are not used as an outlet for Japan’s carbon waste or irrelevant
technologies. - Exert full diplomatic pressure in calling for an end to the war in Iran.
FOR MORE INFORMATION, SEE FOSSILFREEJAPAN.ORG