Brisbane, Australia has been undergoing last-minute preparations to host leaders of the world’s richest countries for this weekend’s G20 summit.
The two-day meeting of the biggest industrialised and developing economies will focus on boosting growth and developing a strategy to help the global economy resist future shocks.
There have already been several demonstrations.
Pro-Tibet protesters floated a balloon accusing China of abusing human rights.
Oxfam Australia held a protest calling on world leaders to reduce inequality.
“They can save lives by tackling global tax reform, by addressing issues of profits being shipped off-shore and put into tax havens. And they can actually tackle this issue of growing inequality. What we’re seeing is that in many countries across the world, there is concentration of wealth in the hands of a few that the rich are getting much more the benefits of the growth than poor people,” said Oxfam Australia’s Chief Executive, Helen Szoke.
On Sydney’s Bondi beach protesters buried their heads in the sand to show what they thought of the Australian government’s stance on climate change under prime minister Tony Abbott.
It is accused of resisting attempts to put the issue on the agenda.
The ostrich is said to stick its head in the sand in a futile bid to avoid danger. Ornithologists say the African bird does no such thing but that did not spoil the cheeky protest.
“The G20 starts this weekend, and we thought it was a pretty humorous and potentially powerful message to send to our government that this is really what we think of your policies at the moment. The world is acting, and we’re sticking our heads in the sand,” said Eden Tehan of event organisers 350.org.
This week’s agreement by the US and China to reduce carbon emissions has increased pressure on Australia over its climate change policies.
But its leader, who once described climate change science as “absolute crap” and coal as “good for humanity”, has argued the G20 is not an appropriate forum to discuss it.
Abbott has come under fire for scrapping a carbon tax and trying to reduce renewable energy targets.
