Page 3914 - Week 11 - Wednesday, 25 September 2019

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infrastructure plan of 30 per cent canopy cover across the city. This is an important thing, because we know, as Ms Le Couteur mentioned, that it is cooler in summer—around 10 degrees cooler—in areas that have higher canopy cover, and that helps to reduce energy consumption in those areas and helps us to adapt to climate change.

These are just a couple of the measures that are outlined in this very comprehensive strategy that is taking a responsible approach to managing climate change and our environment. These are measures that will benefit Canberrans and support them during this transition that we all must take. If we do not, we know that we are going to face significant issues in the future. The government is committed to making sure that we support households and we support workers through a just transition in that process.

MS CHEYNE (Ginninderra) (6.16): “Doesn’t my future matter?” “Boo, climate change” and the very polite but equally earnest “Save our planet, please”—these were just some of the placards Canberra school students held up at Friday’s School Strike 4 Climate. The message was clear: we need climate justice now. Students felt this issue was so important that they were willing to give up their education to make this case. That is what the opposition does not get. This means so much to people and it means so much to kids. It is the lack of care and the lack of action shown by people like the federal government, shown by people like the opposition, which makes these kids take these tricky decisions to give up their education for a few hours to make the point about why it is so important.

I was proud to march with my colleagues in the ACT Labor and union contingent to support this student-led movement, and it was great to see a broad representation of Canberra at the strike. People of all ages, backgrounds and occupations turned out, taking time off school, work and other commitments to make their voices heard. I even saw families of three generations—school students, parents and grandparents—all marching together. It was particularly inspiring to hear directly from these young people. Local high school students and even two year 6s made speeches and others performed songs to highlight the importance and urgency of climate action.

I was impressed but not surprised by how eloquent, passionate and intelligent these young leaders were. In fact, the strike was primarily organised by school students, with some support from adults. The students were not just painting posters; they were the ones liaising with police, obtaining permits and arranging public liability insurance. I take a moment to thank these students and everyone else who worked so hard to pull off the seamless event and to contrast Mr Hanson’s juvenile commentary on such an important issue.

Climate change is one of the defining issues of our generation and we need to act now. The School Strike 4 Climate made that clear on Friday. There is no time to wait and there is no planet B. That is exactly why an ACT climate strategy is so important, taking action where we have the power to do so. We have already come so far in the ACT. We have led the way as an Australian jurisdiction. In a week’s time we will be the eighth jurisdiction in the world to transition to 100 per cent renewable energy. It is time and it is right for us to set out a strategy, a plan and a conversation to have with the community about how we can all do more to avert a climate disaster.


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