Tech giant Atlassian will encourage its 3500 employees to take part in this month's global strike for climate action in a move it hopes will reverberate through corporate Australia.

The firm's billionaire co-founder, Mike Cannon-Brookes, said companies had to take their share of responsibility for the "climate crisis" and warned Australians in particular could not rely on governments "at all" to address the problem.

Atlassian co-founder Mike Cannon-Brookes says Australians can't rely on government "at all" on climate change. Credit:Steven Siewert

In an interview with The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, he said prominent politicians such as Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton, who has been critical of corporate activism in the past, should "stick to [their] knitting", something Mr Dutton has previously told chief executives to do.

Millions are expected to walk out of work or school on September 20 as part of "Strike 4 Climate Action" – inspired by 16-year-old Swedish schoolgirl and activist Greta Thunberg – to demand global action on climate change ahead of a major United Nations summit in New York the following week.