Through a combination of research, community outreach, direct action, lobbying and offering positive business alternatives, FoE seeks to work in alliances with other like minded groups and individuals to achieve the necessary social change which will allow for environmental protection with full protection for the rights of all people.

FoEA is a grassroots and decentralised organisation that operates from an environmental justice perspective. FoE Australia sets policy, funding, and campaigning priorities at national meetings which are held twice a year. The national liaison office (currently hosted by FoE Melbourne) acts as a central check-in point for FoE Australia. The National Campaigns Reference Group (NCRG) is composed of representatives of local groups and national campaigns and advises on political direction and campaign priorities for the network as well as supporting capacity building initiatives.

FoE is the Australian member of Friends of the Earth International (FoEI). FoEI is the world's largest grassroots environmental network, uniting 70 national member groups and some 5,000 local activist groups on every continent. With over 2 million members and supporters around the world, we campaign on today's most urgent environmental and social issues. We challenge the current model of economic and corporate globalisation, and promote solutions that will help to create environmentally sustainable and socially just societies. More details at: http://www.foei.org

FoE is a membership-based organisation. Individuals join FoE by joining a local FoE group. You can also subscribe directly to the national magazine, Chain Reaction.

Local Groups

The majority of FoEA's work occurs through local group activities. Current campaigns include clean energy, climate change, mining, transport, urban sustainability, waste minimisation, ecological restoration projects, sustainable food production, plantations, chemicals and forests. Many of these groups co-operate with other organisations on specific projects in order to increase the scope and effectiveness of their activity.

Member groups of FoEA should meet the following criteria -

1. It should be independent from political parties and economic interests;
2. It should have an open and democratic structure;
3. It should have a policy and practice of actively encouraging equal representation and participation of women and men;
4. It should actively seek to encourage Indigenous people and people from non English speaking backgrounds to be active in the group;
5. It should be addressing environmental issues in their social, political and human rights context;
6. It should have a strong interest in cooperating with other FoE member groups.