Media Release
A call to action to address sea level rise in the Asia Pacific

Call for Citizen's Panel
Ad in The Weekend Australian 5-6 April, 2008

The Citizens' Panel was a group of fourteen people brought together for the National People's Assembly to discuss, debate and determine a set of recommendations on how best Australia can prepare for sea level rise and population displacement.

The participants were recruited from across Australia and randomly selected to ensure fair representation of our country's diversity. Our fourteen citizens were aged between 17 - 69 and include:

• an environmental artist
• a retired food engineer
• a city planner
• a student from Darwin
• a member of the Anglican church
• a conflict management professional
• a banker, born in New Caledonia
• a doctor, born in India
• an Indigenous Australian artist and elder
• a public servant
• an environmental engineer and research scientist
• a Council member
• a teacher from Tasmania
• a member of the Youth Parliament

The Citizens' Panel undertook two intensive briefing weekends where a range of experts provided the citizens with the latest information and statistics for discussion. A facilitator and a professional writer assisted the citizens to document their recommendations.

The third and final weekend was held at the State Library of Queensland on 29th and 30th of August, hosted by Griffith University, as part of the Riverfestival.

On the final day of proceedings, the report was presented to the Federal Government.