Warraber (Sue Island) has been Ted Billy's home for over six decades.
But in spending his life on the island, the 65-year-old has had to navigate severe environmental change.
“The way I know my island, with how old I am, there were big changes on the island. Big portions of the island, our island, are gone,” he said.
One of the biggest threats is coastal erosion, something that has already impacted Mr Billy's family with the disturbance of his ancestor's resting place.
“The erosion came right up to where my great grandfather was, and it washed out … not only that but there were several other families, the whole cemetery," he said.
“We have to walk around the island on the middle of the rip collecting whatever we can find, just grab everything together, dig the one hole and put everything in.”
Protestors came with signs and sandbags to build a small seawall on the lawns of Parliament. Credit: Talei Elu
Taking the protest to parliament
On Monday morning, Mr Billy stood amongst other Torres Strait leaders with signs and sandbags to protest climate inaction in the capital.
The group, led by the Torres Strait 8, built the mock seawall in front of Parliament House in Canberra on Monday morning.
The protest comes just weeks after a group of Torres Strait Islander people, known as the Torres Strait 8, won a victory against the Commonwealth at the United Nations.
Leaders plan to meet with climate change and energy minister Chris Bowen and present him with a petition of over 48,000 signatures supporting their cause.
A human rights violation
Kabay Tamu, a Warraber man from the Kulkalgal Nation, said his home is already feeling the impact of rising sea waters.
“Every high tide, every monsoon season, I see the damage of coastal erosion ... We get nearly 10 metres of land that gets washed away, and that happens annually,” he said.
Mr Tamu was also a claimant in the UN case.
Protestors out the front of Parliament House on Monday. Credit: Talei Elu
In September, the UNHRC found that Australia’s failure to protect Torres Strait Islander people from the effects of climate change violated their right to practice their culture.
“Torres Strait Islanders are standing up and fighting for our human rights to be protected on behalf of First Nations and non-Indigenous brothers and sisters all over the world,” Mr Tamu said.
Torres Strait representatives in attendance at COP27
A spokesman for Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus said the new Labor government would work with Torres Strait Islander people to address climate change.
“The Australian Government engages in good faith with the Human Rights Committee in relation to any complaint received,” he said.
“The Australian Government is considering the Committee’s Views and will provide its response in due course.”
The protest coincides with the beginning of the United Nations COP27 climate change negotiations in Egypt. Torres Strait 8 claimant and Masigilgal Traditional Owner Yessie Mosby and his 12-year-old son Genia Mosby are in attendance.
Torres Strait 8 have called for Australia to achieve net zero emissions by 2030, and for the government to further invest in infrastructures like sea walls and renewable energy sources in the region.
Climate change minister Chris Bowen has been contacted for comment.
