John Murphy (Reid, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Today I take this opportunity to bring to the attention of the House of Representatives the growing youth movement for climate change action and the grassroots support for action on climate change in my electorate of Reid. Last week, I had the pleasure of meeting three young inspirational constituents—Katherine Tu, Mathew Nicholl and Leah Emmanuel—as part of a 'meet your member' campaign, initiated by the Australian Youth Climate Coalition. I am very impressed by the motivation and passion of these three young Australians. During our discussions, Katherine, Mathew and Leah impressed me with their unshakable conviction that climate change is real and must be addressed now.

I was also heartened to learn of the groundswell of support by younger Australians for our government to take urgent and decisive action to combat climate change. After all, it is their generation that will be faced with the terrible consequences of inaction if we fail to act now. I would also like to add just how impressed I am with these students and their maturity and understanding of how vital it is for our government to address the issues of climate change. I thank Katherine, Mathew and Leah for taking the time to raise this critical issue with me not only on their own behalf but also on behalf of their generation as, after all, it is their generation who are the future of our country and we owe it to them to act on climate change now.

See this speech in context