The Association for the Study of Literature, Environment and Culture, Australia and New Zealand (ASLEC-ANZ) is the peak body for the creative, critical and cultural study of environment in the region. We are currently a settler-run organisation that is actively listening to Indigenous advice on how best to decolonise our practices and outputs. We fully acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders as the First Peoples of this continent and first custodians of its lands and waterways. Our art, criticism and activism seeks to respond to the environmental crisis and repair harms that are, in large part, caused by land and water management practices of colonists, including rampant resource extraction. We recognise that mitigating climate change cannot be done without Indigenous knowledge, which must also be accompanied by true recognition of the sovereignty of Indigenous people. The struggles for environmental justice and the struggle for Indigenous sovereignty and justice are connected. We pay respect to all past and present Indigenous people who are enhancing our understanding of the life, lands and waters that we call Australia.
We support the Voice to Parliament.
This statement was co-written and endorsed by the ASLEC-ANZ Executive Committee, October 2023.