Page 3404 - Week 11 - Tuesday, 21 October 2014
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A key issue of importance to young people is climate change, and our environment. We are lucky to live in a planned city – but we need a better plan for its future. Environmental sustainability needs to become a key factor in the way we plan our buildings, transport systems, and housing developments.
When I was growing up, caring about the environment was for hippies and greenies, and our family was proud to wear those labels.
Today, sustainability is an issue for every one of us, and being aware of the impact we are having on our environment needs to underpin every decision that we make in this place.
It is not just us politicians, or those with money or power who need to act.
I am committed to listening to the voices of our young people, and to be there listening when they raise their voices loud and clear. I am committed to acting with them on the issues that concern them, because their issues are our issues.
If we do this together, we will leave behind us a legacy that we can be proud of, and a generation who will continue to act for a brighter future.
Mr Tom Berry
Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker and members of the assembly, for providing me with this opportunity to deliver my inaugural speech to the ACT Legislative Assembly. I would like to utilise this time to briefly introduce myself and address a number of topics of discussion, which I believe to be of increasing importance as we move forward in our development as a country of influence.
My interest in Australian politics has a grown from a strong basis formed in my childhood. As a child I remember watching ‘Parliament Question Time’ and to my own surprise, as I was quite young, watched and observed each time in its entirety. I am not sure how much of this was absorbed, but to a degree I believe it shaped my keen interest which is present to this day.
Since moving to Canberra from Melbourne in July I have attended multiple sittings of Question Time in the House of Representatives, showing that after all these years the interest is still there. Much of this exposure is thanks to my Mum, who always had news and politics streaming via radio, or television.
Throughout my undergraduate studies of Commerce and International Studies my passion for domestic politics grew to encompass international politics within my majors of International Relations, Mandarin Chinese and Middle Eastern Studies.
After completing my undergraduate studies I decided to further my knowledge in my initial area of interest in my tertiary studies, Asia and the Pacific, in particular China. I
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