Page 3334 - Week 09 - Thursday, 22 August 2019
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My message to the students is this: “You are to be congratulated for your dedication and passion. Your actions are changing the future and you are making an important difference.” I am proud of the students and young people for showing this deep passion and global empathy. They are some of the best qualities you can have.
My other message to the student strikers is this: “Climate change is bad, but do not give up. The solutions to climate change are there for us to grab: renewable energy, clean and green transport, sustainable agriculture, and leadership that emphasises compassion and sustainability. The technology and policies are all achievable.” History is full of examples of people like these students demanding change and achieving it.
This Assembly recently took an important step by passing a resolution acknowledging that we are in a climate emergency. As I said in the Assembly at the time, the climate emergency declaration says that this Assembly gives particular recognition to the enormous existential threat posed by climate change, and it says that we will prioritise climate action. At the time I asked for tripartisan support, to acknowledge that we are in a state of climate emergency and to acknowledge that this climate emergency requires urgent, significant, ongoing and unprecedented action, including from this ACT government and this Assembly.
That motion did pass and became a resolution of the Assembly. Particularly in these circumstances, I think that there is an onus on this Assembly to engage with our young people and to hear what they want to tell us about climate change. Members may have noted that this has been occurring in other parliaments and councils, both in Australia and around the world, and we should do the same here.
With this in mind, the motion calls on the Assembly to invite in representatives of the striking students to present us with their concerns. I can let the Assembly know that I have spoken to ACT students who are organising the September event and who are anxious about climate change. They would greatly appreciate the opportunity to speak to the Assembly. Let us have them talk to us directly and hear why they are leaving school and what they need from their Assembly representatives.
It is up to the Assembly to think about what form that could take; there could be a number of different approaches. I suspect the best option is some sort of lunchtime briefing in one of the meeting rooms in this place, but I would be happy to work with colleagues, perhaps with the whips, to sort out a suitable time with you, Madam Speaker, on behalf of the Assembly.
In conclusion, I commend this motion to the Assembly and I ask that the Assembly both endorse the climate strike and hear from the ACT students who strongly wish to talk to us about climate change. We have declared a climate emergency; we have children who are incredibly engaged and concerned about climate change. Let us allow them to come and address us on this important matter.
We are making decisions on behalf of future generations in the ACT and it would reflect well on this Assembly if, in the month after we declared a climate emergency,
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