Ten Australians have filed a legal case with the United Nations claiming Australia' federal government is violating their human rights by continuing to support coal and gas companies to fuel climate extremes across the country.

Key points:

• Ten Australian claimants have launched an historic case alleging their human rights are infringed by climate change
• Three Traditional Owners are among the claimants
• Australia is one of the world’s largest exporters of coal and gas, and exports around 80 per cent of its coal and gas

The ten claimants are represented by the Human Rights Law Centre, Environmental Justice Australia, and Earthjustice.

Traditional Owners, firefighters, teachers, students, and disability advocates from across the country say they have brought this case because they have each been "seriously harmed by extreme events such as catastrophic bushfires, unprecedented heatwaves, floods, creeping sea level rise, and algal blooms - fueled by Australian coal and gas".

The Hard Truths case is the first legal claim filed in an international court or body against a country for climate harm since the International Court of Justice found last year that countries have a legal duty to prevent significant harm to the climate.

In May, Australia joined 140 other countries in passing a major United Nations resolution supporting this landmark legal ruling on climate change.

The Hard Truths case was filed with the UN Human Rights Committee, which is the body that adjudicates claims against states for breaches of international human rights law. Launched at federal parliament on Tuesday, the Hard Truths case argues that by supporting coal and gas companies to dig up and export coal and gas, the federal government is "driving climate harms that result in violations of Australians' rights to life, right to family and home, and First Nations rights to culture".

Australia is one of the world's largest exporters of coal and gas. Around 80 per cent of coal and gas produced in Australia is shipped overseas to be burned. As that pollution is exported, successive Australian governments have excluded it from national climate policies and targets.

The four Indigenous advocates among the 10 claimants are Rikki Dank, Latisha Francis, Professor Anne Poelina and Pam Francis.

Ms Dank, a Gudanji and Wakaya woman, who notes extreme heat is making Rikki's Country, the Barkly Tablelands in the NT, harder to live on and disrupting cultural knowledge passed down through generations.

Ms Latisha Francis, a Narungga, Ngarrindjeri and Kaurna woman and marine science student, is fighting toxic algal blooms, which are disconnecting her and her family from Sea Country and waterways.

Ms Pam Francis, also a Narungga, Ngarrindjeri and Kaurna woman, teaches young Aboriginal children about language, Culture and Country, while fighting to protect Sea Country and waterways from toxic algal blooms.

In the Kimberley, devastating floods and extreme heat are affecting Country, cultural knowledge and the Martuwarra Fitzroy River system. As a Traditional Owner and globally recognised researcher, Professor Poelina, a Nyikina Warrwa and Warlungurru woman and Chair of the Martuwarra Fitzroy River Council, has spent her life advocating for Country and living waters.

"I belong to the River of Life, and the river belongs to all of us through our responsibility to care for it," she said on Tuesday.

"In 2023, my home community at Balginjirr went underwater during devastating floods that displaced our people from Country, and our homes, sacred sites, gardens, food plants and the graves of our ancestors were submerged. I immediately understood this was not simply a 'natural' disaster, but the foreseeable consequence of a warming climate.

"Despite decades of scientific warnings, governments continue approving coal and gas projects and I believe this is a failure to protect both people and Country from foreseeable harm. We must stop normalising destruction, while ignoring Indigenous knowledge systems that hold important solutions for how we can live in relationship with the natural world."

The 10 claimants have asked the UN Human Rights Committee to declare it is unlawful for Australia to continue approving coal and gas projects for export without a plan to keep Australians safe from dangerous climate change.

They are calling on the Australian government to: "Stop making things worse by saying yes to coal and gas corporations; stop subsidising coal and gas companies producing the climate pollution that's harming Australians; and develop a credible plan to phase out fossil fuel exports, to save lives and protect communities.

More informationabout this case and the stories of the 10 Australian claimants is available online at hardtruthscase.org.au.