Jordon Steele-John (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Tonight, all across our country, from the city to the bush, communities are being buried beneath some of the most intense firestorms that we have seen in the history of our country. Beneath the smoke and the ash, emergency personnel are toiling, dealing with unprecedented conditions, desperately trying to beat back the blazes and trying to keep together to defend their communities—often while their homes are at risk. Homeowners and communities are coming back to moonscape-blasted expanses where once their families thrived. And tonight, as those folk grieve the destruction of their homes and the inevitable uprooting of their lives, as communities wonder how they will ever recover and as firefighters and emergency service workers battle on against these blazes on the fire front, I want to extend the deepest empathy, love and solidarity of our green movement to them. We are with you in this moment of trial and grief, and we will work alongside you on the journey to recovery. The sacrifices you have made and the efforts you have expended in these last few days have shown what is possible when our community comes together to support each other. From your example, everyone in this place should draw new determination to do everything we can to protect homes, community and the planet, regardless of how difficult those political choices may be. After all, if you can find the strength to continue on and rise to the challenge of rebuilding, as we know so many of you will do, then what on earth do we here have to complain about?

Over the past couple of days, community leaders have been calling on this parliament and others to take urgent action to address climate change. They have been calling, as they have been calling for the last two decades or more, warning of the effect that the pollution that we are creating will have on our bushland and on our weather patterns and of the disasters that it is now creating. I was particularly inspired by Aaron Crowe and Fiona Lee of Bobin who, despite the absolute horror of losing their whole world as the fire front took their home and their community, drove five hours to Sydney to deliver a drum full of ashes—ashes that were once their home—to the steps of the Parliament of New South Wales, amid crowds of young climate protesters. Together, they went on to raise over $5,000 for New South Wales Rural Fire Service personnel, finding the strength in that moment to take action. Again, I ask this place: if they can show such courage, what are we complaining about?

We here know what we have to do. We know the steps that need to be taken to address climate change—indeed, we have known for decades. Instead of taking action, the major parties have decided to keep taking donations from the corporations that have caused and are profiting from the problem. I know that it is difficult to change the way that they do politics. I know that the addiction to corporate donations and influence on our system is all that some in this place have ever known. But, tonight, I beg you: please look into the faces of those who, by luck and the courageous work of our emergency personnel, have survived. Look at the landscape left behind. Take courage and act. The time is now.