Sharon Bird (Cunningham, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Vocational Education) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, Member for Herbert; that is certainly somewhere I look forward to visiting when I next go to Townsville.

I want to take this opportunity to report to the House about a very important meeting I had in Wollongong University last week. I attended—with my colleague the member for Throsby—the Australian Youth Climate Coalition. The organiser Eva Davis-Boermans invited Stephen Jones and I to come along as local members to receive from them their petition about the Safe Climate Roadmap. They took the opportunity to give us some feedback about stalls they had been having in the local area, talking to the local community about their concerns, as the next generation, about the impacts of climate change on not only the globe but also as a local issue for them living in our area. They had invited guest speakers Dr Adam Lucas, a senior lecturer in science and technology at the University of Wollongong; and Nigel Pennington, who was representing local surf lifesaving, and talked about the impacts and effects on emergency service personnel, particularly in volunteer organisations, of extreme climate events.

So it was great to be there. The big polar bear was there as well. It was a really exciting event. I did not bring the polar bear with me today; unlike with Peppa Pig, who I did bring when I was talking about ABC cuts. It was a great event and I congratulate— (Time expired)