2019-09-18
The ACT Greens will today (Wednesday) welcome a contingent from the Canberra School Strikers for Climate Action to the ACT Legislative Assembly. The students will address ACT parliamentarians on the urgency of taking climate action and their expectations for ACT politicians.
The visit follows the passing of a resolution in the Assembly in August, supporting the school strikers and inviting them to address MLAs in the Assembly.
“The Greens are proud to welcome these inspiring ‘School Strikers’ to our Parliament,” ACT Greens leader Shane Rattenbury said today.
“Climate change is the challenge of our generation. Our future depends on the decisions before us today – cutting emissions, leaving coal in the ground, embracing the renewables revolution.
“The ACT was the first Australian state or territory to declare a climate emergency. The Greens fully support the students’ calls to take rapid action on the climate change emergency.
“While we fully support the students’ ambition on climate change, it is still critical that we sit down, listen to them, and understand what young people in Canberra want from political leaders. All members of the Assembly, including Ministers and the Opposition, are invited along.”
Greens Member for Murrumbidgee Caroline Le Couteur will also welcome the School Strikers today.
“The students are the future. And thanks to inaction on the part of the Federal Government over many decades, they are the ones that will have to deal with the consequences of a warming planet.
“As the strikers have made clear, we must act as though our house is on fire, because it is.”
“The Global Day of Action isn’t just a moment for students. I encourage all Canberrans to get along to show their support for this important show of solidarity with our inspiring young people.”
The Greens also recently wrote to the School Strikers for Climate Action to lend their support. Both Greens MLAs will attend Friday’s School Strike for Climate Action in Glebe Park.