Kylea Tink (North Sydney, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

To recognise a duty of care to another is to recognise that there is a moral or legal obligation to ensure the safety and wellbeing of others even as you pursue a course of action that may align with your own personal best interests. While employers frequently talk about and act upon their duty of care to their employees, surely no entity could have a greater obligation to the duty of care than the government of the day. After all, as leaders of this country, surely we have no greater obligation than to leave this place better than we found it for future generations. Yet in 2021 a then-16-year-old woman, Anjali Sharma, was forced to take legal action to try to force the then government of the day to recognise and act on their obligation. At the time, Anjali argued that, in deciding whether to approve a coalmine expansion in New South Wales under the EPBC Act, the environment minister had the duty to protect young people from devastating impacts of climate change. While ultimately the court decided not to award Anjali the injunction she sought, her actions marked the beginning of an ongoing campaign to ensure our government accepts that it does have a duty to protect the right to a safe environment.

On 28 July, I am proud to report, my community of North Sydney will continue with Anjali to spread this message with a public concert: Our Future, Our Duty. Please join us on that day.