Page 3386 - Week 11 - Thursday, 11 November 2021
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(c) immediately cease new fossil fuel exploration and rapidly phase out the extraction, export and use of coal and fossil gas;
(d) end public subsidies to coal and gas exploration, extraction, and processing;
(e) set a national target of achieving 100 percent renewable electricity by 2030;
(f) set a national zero emissions transport policy that is consistent with the 2030, 2040 and net zero emissions targets; and
(g) ensure that Australia fulfills all targets and commitments made on behalf of Australia at COP26; and
(4) calls on the Chief Minister and the leaders of all parties represented in the Assembly to table a copy of these letters and responses in the Assembly by the first sittings of 2022.
Two years ago, I was at School Strike 4 Climate in Glebe Park with my five-year-old. She was fascinated by the handmade artworks from thousands of kids, but she couldn’t read the words. I told her the gist but I skipped the scary parts. Some of those signs were funny: “Why go to school if you don’t listen to the educated?” “If you act like children, we’ll act like adults.” “I’ve seen smarter Cabinets at Ikea.” Some were chilling: “You’ll die of old age. We’ll die of climate change.”
We marched with 15,000 people, led by students. They were fierce and strong, and they were right. Climate change is terrifying, but a lot of us were reassured that day. Many of us felt like we had been screaming into the void for years or decades. We thought we had finally got through. Our leaders could ignore us but they could never ignore these children.
A year ago, I was back at School Strike 4 Climate. I did not take my daughter this time. By design, there were not many people there. It was at Parliament House, in the middle of a COVID outbreak—not a good time to gather. The signs were back but they had changed. They were not funny or chilling; they were ash: “Flaming hell, fund our future not gas.” “Stop burning our future.” “By the time I’m 40 Canberra won’t have a winter.” “Your mother is burning.”
Between 2019 and 2020, nothing had changed in federal climate policy, but the world was different. We had all lived the reality of living in a changed climate, and it was terrifying.
The summer had felt different. We had clear skies in the day and roasting hot north-westerly winds. I have lived in Canberra for my whole life. Normally, we get a cool evening sea breeze in summer. It flows up over the Clyde and it brings relief. But in December 2019 it dragged thick smoke from the Tallaganda fire. It choked our city. It gave our evening sky an eerie red glow. It was awful, but at least we knew that the smoke would clear. But it did not. The fires grew and the winds changed. The smoke stayed, day and night.
We have evaporative cooling in my house. We could not use it. We could not open up the house, either, to let air in. We sealed ourselves in and bunkered down, choking
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