Page 1857 - Week 05 - Thursday, 16 May 2019
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and the ACT in 2016 was approximately $100 million. Those annual costs are projected to more than double by 2050. This is one of many costs the ACT will face, and one of many reasons my motion calls on the federal government to help states and territories to adapt.
Members, today I bring on this motion to allow this Assembly, hopefully with 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. Making this climate emergency declaration is an important step. It says that we give particular recognition to the enormous existential threat posed by climate change and that we will prioritise climate action. This is not to say that other issues we deal with are not important; they are important. But the climate change threat has reached a point where it requires special, dedicated attention and prioritised action from us, as decision-makers on behalf of our constituents.
What will this emergency status mean? It is a question I have been asked quite a bit in the last few days. It is different from the types of emergencies we are used to, which involve some dangerous rapid event. The consequences of climate change generally emerge more slowly, less like a thunderclap and more like the Titanic after it hit the iceberg. But we need to take critical, urgent action right now to stop dire consequences in the future. It is still an emergency, just one of a different form.
To quote Greta Thunberg, the impressive 16-year-old Swedish inspiration for the children’s climate strikes:
… I’m sure that the moment we start behaving as if we were in an emergency, we can avoid climate and ecological catastrophe. Humans are very adaptable: we can still fix this. But the opportunity to do so will not last for long. We must start today. We have no more excuses.
Climate emergency status means climate action takes precedence. From now on, every time we make a decision, we will ask ourselves what this decision means for climate change, for emissions and for the climate crisis we need to avert. If it is not consistent with reducing emissions, then we must stop and rethink. This mandate must extend beyond this Assembly and into all of the government agencies.
The new currency of the ACT needs to be emissions and climate change. That is what we must value. Other pursuits that usually dominate politicians’ thinking—unchecked economic growth, for example—need to be secondary to this new currency of climate change. That is how we need to work in this government. Of course unchecked climate change is an economy destroyer, so the best way to protect our economic growth is actually to prioritise climate change action.
This is not some fancy of mine or of the Greens. People all over the world are now recognising the climate emergency. They are desperately calling for action from government at all levels. Globally, children are taking to the streets, including in Australia and right here in Canberra. To quote Greta Thunberg again:
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