Joanne Ryan (Lalor, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to inform the House that this morning I joined many of my colleagues in the forecourt to have a look at—and touch and feel—the Monster Climate Petition. This petition so far has over 72,000 signatures. Those signatures have been collected in just seven weeks. The petition is still open for members of the public to get on board.

The lead petitioner is Fiona Stanley AC and she is joined by Mary Crooks AO, Judy Brett, Clare Wright and Pam Robinson OAM who were all in the forecourt this morning to talk to members of the House of Representatives about this great petition. It was inspired by the Monster Petition tabled in Victoria in 1891, which collected 30,000 signatures and requested the vote for women.

The petition requests the House build a safe climate future by enacting immediate and deep reductions to Australia's carbon emissions. It is a very important petition. The people who are behind it are a dozen Australian women. They say on their website that they are worried about the future of Australia's children, land and seas and that they have come together to provide a mechanism for people across our country to give a collective voice to their concern. The petition is still open and I encourage all others who feel as these great women do to get online and sign up.