Page 909 - Week 03 - Thursday, 7 April 2022
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low you get a lot of dirt through the tap. You watch the last fish left in the dam swim around in tiny circles in a puddle so small that his fin is sticking out of the top of the water and getting sunburnt but his will to survive is so defiant that you do not want to have to do the only humane thing. This is what climate change means for this country: more drought, more storms, more floods, more heatwaves.
As Minister for Mental Health, I know only too well the impact that climate change anxiety is having, and will have, on people’s mental health. This can be a concern about more frequent and dangerous weather events impacting on our lives or about making places that people call home no longer liveable. I will be heading up near Lismore next week, and my heart breaks for what they are going through right now.
Climate change anxiety goes to the heart of something that generations of Australians have taken for granted, and that is that the next generation will have things a little better than the current generation. This is why I see people in their 30s, 40s and 50s investing their superannuation in ethical funds that support renewable energy, ditching the car for an e-bike or a MyWay card, or supporting the School Strike 4 Climate. It is why I see grandmothers and grandfathers installing solar panels on their home or putting up climate action now signs in their front yard, or participating in actions with XR.
When scientists and suburban grandparents are willing to be arrested for non-violent direct action like writing “Climate action now!” in chalk paint in public spaces to draw attention to the climate crisis, that is a very clear signal that what they are feeling is an inescapable existential threat as a direct result of climate change. Chalk paint washes away, and the words I say today will be forgotten by lunchtime, but the existential threat of climate change is such that, without solid and rapid action, we are guaranteed a harsher and more inhospitable world forever.
On 1 December last year, the 2021 Mission Australia youth survey was released, and 45.8 per cent of ACT young women and 40.6 per cent of young men said that the environment was one of their top three issues. Their other top issues were equity and discrimination, and COVID-19. Our young people are telling us that what we, as leaders in our community, need to focus our attention on is protecting the health of both people and our planet. They are physically demonstrating how important the environment and climate action are to their mental wellbeing, through things like climate strikes and environment litigation.
More than 16 per cent of young people in the ACT volunteer in the protection of our environment and caring for country. Just two weeks ago, young people at our universities in Canberra were making their voices heard in calling for immediate action on climate change, and there will be more action from School Strike 4 Climate later this month. If we truly care about their mental wellbeing and their future, we must support them. This is why the ACT government’s actions on climate change today and our future policy agenda are so critical. This is the best way we can support these people in our community who are actively trying to ensure a liveable future for all of us.
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