Adam Bandt (Melbourne, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

This week I'm participating in Youth Voice in Parliament Week where we have a chance to hear directly from our young people in our electorates. This speech was written by Elvie in my electorate of Melbourne. 'It's time to step up and show you care. You have a duty of care to your children and the earth that we inherit. We've been here yelling as loud and as clear as we can, taking you to court for something so simple. We beg you, let us have this, a future. When I think about what Australia will be like in 20 years on this current trajectory of emissions I see the truth: the mega fires, the extreme weather events and the sea level rising. I see them not being able to breathe from toxic air. I see babies in N95 masks, 10 million children hospitalised from climate caused injuries. How I wish this was just me exaggerating.

Australia, the largest exporter of coal—mining our mother, the land, with your greedy hands, continuing to rip it from beneath the feet of all of us, Aboriginal land, continuing the horrifying torment of genocide and ecocide. How dare you sacrifice us for short-term gain—money. How dare you turn a blind eye when we cannot? And you wonder why we suffer from mental health issues—always on the rise. This is because this is the real world we're living in: the overinformed world. This is the blood on your hands, world. The truth: you have a duty of care to protect us. In 20 years all I want is Australia to be safe.' Thank you, Elvie, from my electorate of Melbourne.

See this speech in context