Organisers began by acknowledging injustices against First Nations people. Makaela Rowe-Fox told the crowd Indigenous people faced an immeasurable amount of prejudice in modern-day Australia. She pointed to the death this week of Indigenous woman Joyce Clarke in Geraldton. "Climate justice includes addressing systemic racism," Ms Rowe-Fox said. "In this country and around the world First Nations are on the frontline of the climate crisis.

"We also acknowledge people who have and are suffering the impacts of climate change, who have been displaced, who have lost those they love and care about. People who are stuck in war-torn countries with very little hope for the future. We acknowledge those held in detention for seeking safety and a better life." The march down William Street was led by Extinction Rebellion supporters, demanding justice for Ms Clarke. Credit:Lauren Pilat She asked those present to stand in solidarity with the family of Ms Clarke and the community of Geraldton with a minute of silence. "Climate justice is not just about achieving climate action now, it’s about addressing systemic injustices, and leaving no-one behind," she said. Sampson McCrackan said people had turned out in such numbers because they realised there was now a climate emergency.

"The northern hemisphere is experiencing unprecedented temperatures this summer, records are being broken by as much as two whole degrees, not by decimal points," he told the crowd. Primary school children protesting climate change in Perth. Credit:Lauren Pilat "Forests within the arctic circle are on fire, the Amazon is on fire and so are ours up in Queensland. "Iceland recently held a state funeral for the first glacier that has melted due to climate change. But each and every one of us knows that what we need goes deeper than action on climate change, we need to ensure the people of this planet; workers, first nations people are not left behind in this transition. We need climate justice as well as climate action." The protestors then began to march through the streets of Perth, chanting their demands for climate justice. They came to a stand-still at the the corner of William Street where they sat down and continued chanting 'time's up, act now' and 'climate, not profit, ScoMo get off it'.

Sections of William Street and Adelaide Terrace and St Georges Terrace were blocked off as protestors made their way through the CBD, bringing traffic to a stand-still. University student Lara Kemp, 20, said she took part in the rally because she didn't want to live in a baron wasteland of a planet and action needed to be taken now otherwise that is the 'inevitable' future. "Renewable energy can be profitable for Australia. Eventually we are going to run out of coal to dig out of the ground, it's a finite energy and we do need to find a different source of energy otherwise we're screwed. Why don't we do something about it now rather than wait until the point too late to change the environment and also too late to implement it in any way. Everything is void if we don't have a planet, if we don't have somewhere to live, what are we going to do?" Local councils like the City of Fremantle, the Shire of Augusta-Margaret River, and the Town of Victoria Park passed motions of support for the strike and the movement as a whole.

Unions across Western Australia and Australia as a whole have endorsed the strike, including groups and unions like UnionsWA, AEU and SSTUWA, IEU, MUA, CFMEU, United Voice, AMWU, and more. University students joined the cimate change march. Credit:Lauren Pilat Danny Cain from the Maritime Union of WA said his organisation looked after workers in the offshore oil and gas sector. "They don’t wake up every morning and jump up and down because they work in that sector, it’s just a job," he said. "But it’s a secure job. It pays the bills and it’s a job that delivers for their families. There are thousands of thousands of workers who rely on these jobs to get by but we understand as a union and our members understand that these jobs will disappear and they do have to go, we need to move into a renewable energy sector. Companies like Chevron, Woodside offshoring our gas for nothing, they pay no tax, they pay next to no royalties, we get nothing for it apart from making a few thousand jobs. That's not good enough."