Trent Zimmerman (North Sydney, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I have to say that in all my work as the member for North Sydney I'm constantly amazed and inspired by the knowledge and enthusiasm of young Australians on issues like protecting our environment. It's a vast improvement from when I was at school, but it does remind me of the fact that the first political act that I undertook was, as an 11- or 12-year-old, to write to the then Labor Minister for Planning and Environment, the late Paul Landa, to call for an end to old-growth forest logging. But it has certainly become more sophisticated today.

Today I want to pay tribute to Alice Harrington, who lives just outside my electorate. Alice was motivated by her concerns about climate change to organise a petition which attracted 5,642 signatures, which I will present to the parliament today and which has been approved by the Petitions Committee. Alice is deeply passionate about climate change and the environment, but she also has been very novel in the way that she helped organise this petition. It snowballed, particularly through her use of TikTok to attract interest in the petition. I want to congratulate Alice and all of the other young people that helped by signing it. She's a 15-year-old student. I know that her work has made her family very proud, including two constituents of mine, her grandparents Anne and David Roxborough. Thank you, Alice, for the work that you're doing. You have every right to be concerned about the future of our environment and our planet, and your efforts will help achieve a better outcome. I am therefore pleased to present this petition.

The petition read as follows—

The Earth is dying. Ecosystems are collapsing. Natural Disasters are of increasing extremity. We can stop this. The recent United Nations IPCC reported the unequivocal scientific evidence that human activity has warmed the atmosphere, ocean and land. Widespread, rapid changes have already occurred. Global surface temperature will continue to increase unless we act immediately to make substantial reductions in carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. Achieving net zero emissions by 2050 is vital. If we continue at the current rate of CO2 production, increasingly severe disasters such as bushfires, floods and droughts will occur. This will have major economic, political and social impacts. It's in Australia's best interest to act now and cut CO2 emissions so the worst effects can be limited. We are in a climate emergency and as Australian citizens/residents we put our safety and future in the Federal Government's hands. It's especially important to act now to protect the lives of all Australian residents and citizens, including those too young to vote or as yet unborn. We must act with their best interest at heart. With climate change being the most significant problem we face as the human race, we must listen to the science. It is imperative that Australia takes immediate and significant action, to ensure the futures and safety of all Australians.

We therefore ask the House to , as protectors of current and future Australians, to pass a bill ensuring that carbon dioxide emissions are halved by 2030 and Australia will become net zero by 2050.

from 5,642 citizens (Petition No. EN3165)