Page 1858 - Week 05 - Thursday, 16 May 2019
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Around the year 2030, 10 years 252 days and 10 hours away from now, we will be in a position where we set off an irreversible chain reaction beyond human control that will most likely lead to the end of our civilisation as we know it. That is unless in that time, permanent and unprecedented changes in all aspects of society have taken place, including a reduction of CO2 emissions by at least 50%.
She goes on to say:
We children are doing this to wake the adults up. We children are doing this for you to put your differences aside and start acting as you would in a crisis. We children are doing this because we want our hopes and dreams back.
We have an obligation to act for the future generations, the children like Greta who want and deserve a future and the opportunities we have had and continue to have.
Right now, in 2019, Australians rank climate change at the top of a list of 12 possible threats to Australia’s vital interests in the next 10 years, according to a recent Lowy Institute poll. It is their number one concern. A majority of Australian adults see climate change as a critical threat. More specifically, a clear majority of Australians agree that the nation is facing a climate emergency requiring emergency action and that, in response, governments should mobilise all of society like they did during the world wars. That comes from an Australia Institute poll. The same poll found that two-thirds of voters support a rapid transition to 100 per cent renewable electricity, including a majority of each party’s voters. This is not a partisan question.
So this is what the people want. This is what our constituents want. It is what the children want. They know we are in a climate emergency. They are pleading with their governments to take more action and to take action that is consistent with an emergency situation. It is not just the citizens that recognise the emergency; it is also companies and institutions. For example, in March this year the deputy governor of Australia’s Reserve Bank called for immediate action on climate change to avert an abrupt, disorderly economic transition. Climate change policy is now one of the Reserve Bank’s key priorities.
The climate emergency is at last gaining political recognition. Just this month the UK became the first country to declare a climate emergency, after the UK parliament voted in favour of a resolution. Ireland soon followed. Wales and Scotland have declared climate emergencies. Hundreds of cities around the world, including in Australia, are declaring a climate emergency and accepting that climate action must be their number one focus. How else will we get this done and tackle the enormous challenge that climate change presents?
I note that there are amendments. I will speak to those later, in my closing remarks. It is very clear that we cannot rest on our laurels and be negligent when there are so many things we need to change. In that spirit, my request to members today is to please take this issue seriously, to please agree with this motion so that we recognise the reality of this situation, this climate emergency, so that we can work together to address it. I have outlined the scientific reasons why. I have outlined our constituents’
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