Global Citizen Is Coming to Australia

Global Citizen will mobilise Melbourne next month.

Announced today (Feb. 21), the first international edition of the Global Citizen NOW action summit event is set for March 4-6, and will wrap with a live music event, headlined by Crowded House performing a free, ticketed event at the Palais Theatre.

The summit proper, Global Citizen NOW, is hosted at Centrepiece at Melbourne Park, and will gather world leaders, artists, advocates, journalists, policy experts and more than 300 of the “brightest young leaders from across the Asia-Pacific region,” reps say, all with a mission to facilitate action to end extreme poverty.

“We are delighted to be providing a closing performance for Global Citizen, who are bringing together talented and passionate young advocates and innovators to help solve the most urgent problems facing all of us…equity and climate,” comments Neil Finn, frontman of Crowded House.

The ARIA Hall of Fame-inducted folk-rock legends will deliver an “intimate evening of music and storytelling,” ahead of the May 31 release of Gravity Stairs, their eighth studio album.

“Who knows from what distant corners brilliant ideas might come from. Young people’s amazing potential is sometimes hidden from view,” Finn continues.

“We want to be there to help bring it into the light.”

The summit will “drive action on the climate crisis, gender inequity, innovations in health systems and fighting food insecurity,” reads a statement, as Australia hosts ASEAN leaders in the Victorian capital.

Hugh Evans and Hugh Jackman

The two-day program will include such speakers as Chris Anderson, head of TED; Pat Conroy MP, Australia’s Minister for International Development and the Pacific; Craig Foster AM, broadcaster & 2023 NSW Australian of the Year; Nooky, artist and founder of We Are Warriors; and artist/activist Ziggy Ramo, with more names yet to be announced.

Each Melbourne session will drive definitive actions across five core areas:
● The climate crisis, including calling for increased funding for the region’s green transition and the adoption of the Fossil Fuel Non-proliferation Treaty.
● Unleashing women’s economic power and tackling inequalities, including calling for equal access to financing and entrepreneurship opportunities, quality education, and gender responsive health services.
● Strengthening health systems and health financing, including increased budgets to support routine immunisation, combat malaria and eradicate polio.
● The global food crisis and food insecurity across the region, driving increased support of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).
● Unlocking investments into youth-driven entrepreneurship focused on achieving the UN’s Global Goals.

NEW YORK, NY – SEPTEMBER 29: Deborra-lee Furness, Hugh Jackman, Christ Martin and Global Citizens CEO Hugh Evans attend the 2018 Global Citizen Festival: Be The Generation in Central Park on September 29, 2018 in New York City. (Photo by Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Global Citizen)

Though it’s the first time Global Citizen NOW has descended on Australia, the campaign has a strong Aussie connection.

It’s the brainchild of founder and CEO Hugh Evans, the Australia-born philanthropist who, in his pre-teen years, identified wrongs in the world and set about solving them.

Global Citizen ambassadors include Hugh Jackman and former prime minister Julia Gillard.

“We’re thrilled to bring Global Citizen back to Australia for the first ever international edition of Global Citizen NOW, where young innovators will take their place alongside leaders in policy, culture, philanthropy and business to drive impactful, sustainable change and address the global challenges shaping tomorrow,” said Global Citizen in a statement.

The Asia-Pacific region “sits at the epicentre of some of the world’s most pressing issues; but young people are not the passive inheritors of these challenges,” the message continues, “they are powerful innovators playing a vital role in solving them, with much to teach the rest of the world. We look forward to a dynamic few days that will shift the future of the region.”

Additional performers will be announced in the coming days for Global Citizen Nights, tickets for which can be earned by taking action on the Global Citizen app and at globalcitizen.org/nights.