Missy Higgins - Political Activism

Political Activism

As a vegetarian, Higgins promoted the health benefits of not eating meat in a 2005 advertising campaign by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA); and has supported their anti-fur stance. She is interested in environmental issues and is involved with the Sierra Club, a grassroots organisation based in California. She has protested against the proposed industrialisation of the Kimberley region of Western Australia and donated the royalties from her 2009 EP More Than This. Since early 2007, Higgins has tried to make her tours carbon neutral, she purchases green energy to power venues, uses hybrid cars where possible and purchases carbon offsets.

On 5 October 2012, Higgins performed alongside The John Butler Trio and Clare Bowditch at the Save the Kimberley concert held at Federation Square in Melbourne, Australia. In relation to the Kimberley region and campaign, Higgins stated:

Apparently scientists are still discovering hundreds of new plant and animal species there every year, which goes to show that there is still so much we don't know about the region. I just fell in love with it; it gets under your skin. Woodside Petroleum are planning to build one of the world's biggest LNG (liquified natural gas) processing plants on the Kimberley coast, just north of Broome. They would be drilling for the gas out at sea and bringing it onshore at this plant, which would just be devastating for the region. The question everyone is asking is, why not process it offshore or pipe it to one of the mining towns down south that already have the infrastructure in place? Why ruin the Kimberley if there's an alternative?

As of 2012, Higgins is one of numerous publicly-known advocates for the 'Oscar's Law' campaign. The campaign, launched in 2010, protests the existence of "puppy factories" in Australia, whereby animals are factory farmed. One of the campaign's slogans is "Break the Puppy Trade—Don't buy puppies from pet shops" and the list of notable advocates includes Paul Dempsey (musician), Kate Ceberano (singer) and Mick Molloy (comedian).