THE deputy mayors of Albury and Wodonga are supporting Border school students striking over climate change.
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Amanda Cohn and Kat Bennett will on Tuesday join with Wangaratta councillor Ashlee Fitzpatrick to endorse the Albury version of School Strike 4 Climate being held at QEII Square on Friday.
The public backing from the councillors is an initiative of Jacqui Hawkins, who stood as an Independent in the seat of Benambra in last year's Victorian election.
"I reached out to my colleagues in the North East and said 'what are you hearing?' and we're all hearing the same thing from our young people that they are concerned about climate change," Ms Hawkins said.
"So I've just contacted Kat Bennett, Amanda Cohn and Ashlee Fitzpatrick to get together to say we're fully behind the young students who attend the strike and send a message that it's not OK.
"Complacency is not an option and we want real policy changes towards renewable action."
Friday's strike will be the third in Albury, with previous rallies at QEII Square last November and March which attracted 60 and 150 students respectively.
"I think this one will be bigger," Ms Hawkins said.
"There's 120 countries signed up, there's 1000 businesses in Australia who are signed up in supporting their employees attending and 100 locations in Australia will be participating."
Ms Hawkins, who recently completed a stint working for Victorian state Independent MP for Mildura Ali Cupper, said her passion for the cause was driven by family.
"It's my future and it's my nephews' future and my nieces' future," she said.
"What really frustrates me as a young person is we're still having discussions about whether we do or do not support climate change.
"For young people in the North East it's not about whether you believe it or not.
"It's a truth, climate change is going to happen, it is happening."
A NSW Education Department spokesman said: "All students who are enrolled at school are expected to attend that school whenever instruction is provided.
"Any student not in classes on a school day will be marked absent and unexplained absences may be subject to the school's disciplinary code."
The Victorian Education Department is not as clear-cut in its approach with parents advised to notify their school if their child will be away.
"Schools play an important role in helping students to learn about the broader community and issues they feel strongly about," a spokeswoman said.
"Every day at school is important.
"It is well known that time out of the classroom means that students can fall behind."