Larissa Waters (Queensland, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We are in a climate emergency. It threatens the safety of people, our health, our wildlife, our water, our ability to grow food and the air that we breathe. In the Pacific, girls are experiencing the most severe impacts of the climate crisis daily. New research from Plan International Australia and Kiribati Climate Action Network paints a stark picture of this. Fifty per cent of Pacific girls surveyed as part of the research said that the climate crisis has stopped them from going to school. Elenoa, a 12-year-old girl living in rural Fiji says:

I walk 5km every morning to catch my school bus, during bad weather conditions. The road from my home to school is very poor. The culvert and bridges are very low and not in good condition, putting me at risk when travelling.'

More than 25 per cent said there's not enough food and 19 per cent said that they feel hungry as a result of this crisis. Unaisi, a 10-year-old girl also living in rural Fiji, says:

The sea is being polluted and turtles are trying to find their way out to breathe and look for shelter. It's really affecting me and my family because this is where we always get our food from. It's too risky for me and my family to fish now.

The Greens support these young girls and their calls for governments to do more. It is the duty of every government, Australia included, to support communities facing the irreversible impacts of climate change. If we have any hope of achieving a safe climate, we must reach net zero by 2035—it would be nice if we actually knew what the government's target was going to be—we must transition to 100 per cent renewables as quickly as possible and we must commit to no more coal, oil and gas.