Climate strikes held around the world – as it happened

Footage of strikers in Sydney leaving a voicemail for Bill Shorten:

“Bill, will you be our climate leader?” the crowd shout.

And read this from Hugh Hunter in Gunnedah about his decision to strike.

And in 20 minutes, strikes will begin in Brisbane and Perth.

It’s lunchtime, so here’s a round-up of Australia’s cartoonists’ views of the strikes.

In Wagga Wagga, students have in fact recreated a Cathy Wilcox cartoon:

And of course, Guardian Australia’s own First Dog on the Moon:

15 Mar 201922.27 EDT

Lisa Cox

It’s almost impossible to estimate the number of students here – thousands, easily.

We’ve heard speeches from strike organisers, Pacific nations students and young people who say they are fed up.

A lot of the chants today have focused on the Morrison government’s inaction on climate policy, but Labor hasn’t been spared either. They want change from all parties at all levels of government. Notably, not a single political leader has make a speech here in Melbourne today. Students dialled into Bill Shorten’s office but had to leave a message.

Now, they’re about to march down Collins Street, students at the front, on their way to Treasury Gardens. “Climate action, now,” they chant.

Students are protesting in Thailand now, with signs like “my grandma didn’t need plastic”.

Students are reading out messages that other students have sent them.

“How would you feel if you went to school one day and came back and your house was burned down for gas or wood?” a speaker says. “It’s all for money and in the end we can’t buy our Earth back.”

Another message: “We can do something now, not just in the future – now.”

In Melbourne, the students are now marching, and in Sydney they’re planning to head off soon. Coming soon, my colleagues Lisa Cox and Michael McGowan will have short dispatches of how it was on the ground.

Danielle, a student from western Sydney, tells the crowd, “this right here, this right now is what democracy looks like”.

And here’s what that looks like:

15 Mar 201922.05 EDT

Lisa Cox

Students at the Melbourne strike have just dialled into the Labor leader Bill Shorten’s office.

They’ve told the crowd they’re calling him because he hasn’t done enough to shift Labor’s climate policy toward decarbonisation. They ask to speak to Shorten but he isn’t available. So they leave a message.

“We are people of all ages striking today ... We’re asking Bill to step up,” they say. They then list the three demands of the strikers: 100% renewable energy by 2030, no new coal or gas and stopping the Adani coalmine.