DJ Albo is in da house – well a crowd of protesters in Civic wearing DJ Albo masks – with a dance re-mix of the PM’s 2005 parliamentary speech. The lyrics went something like this: “Establish a climate change trigger in federal environmental legislation”.

If you don’t know the “climate trigger” song, it’s a little ditty about a piece of legislation called the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act (EPBC Act), which protects the Australian environment. It was a big hit for the Howard Government.

In 2005, Anthony Albanese was a “back-beat” backbencher, who sang the virtues of the EPBC Act, which offers protection for nine Matters of National Environmental Significance – except climate change.

“The glaring gap in matters of national environmental significance is climate change,” the then Shadow Minister said. “The climate change trigger will enable major new projects to be assessed for their climate change impact.” The bill never got through.

Today’s impromptu dance party in Civic – and across the country – comes ahead of legislation about to be put to the Senate (August 12) for amendments to potentially implement a climate trigger.

There was a dancing masked DJ Albo with turntable, civil discobediance dancers and a speaker blaring out AC/DC’s Highway to Hell.

The satirical dig at the Prime Minister’s DJ background (he has spun the decks since 2013 in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Canberra) attracted the lunchtime crowd.

The Prime Minister’s love of live music is well-known (in 2022 he skolled a beer at a Gang of Youths Concert). He regularly posts his Triple J Hottest 100 vote on social media, and he’s been known to quote song lyrics in Parliament.

The Prime Minister has even had the rare distinction of hosting Rage on ABC TV, where he shared his love of the Pixies and The Smiths.

He made his DJ debut at Melbourne’s Trade Hall, where it’s fair to say his turntable skills may have needed a bit of work. Apparently tracks didn’t fade into each other, leaving awkward pauses between the songs. Perhaps Canberra’s granny DJ Sue could offer some pointers.

Regarding today’s protest, the message was that climate change is currently not listed as a Matter of National Environmental Significance (MNES). This means that projects with a large carbon footprint, which do not breach any of the nine MNES (such as world heritage or national heritage), will not be referred to the Federal Environment Minister.  

If climate change is added to the list of Matters of National Environmental Significance, high-emitting projects will be referred to the Federal Environment Minister for assessment.

According to the Australian Energy Council, fossil fuel projects are almost 50 per cent less likely to be referred to the EPBC Act compared with renewable projects, with 109 renewable projects being referred in the past two years as opposed to 72 for mining. 

Xanthe from Curtin participated at today’s dance party protest.

“The Prime Minister has made much of his love of music and has a history of being a DJ,” Xanthe said. “He also said back in 2005 in relation to the nation’s environment laws: ‘The glaring gap in matters of national environmental significance is climate change…It is time to act.”

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese could not be reached for comment.