2016-05-04
Mr BARBER (Northern Metropolitan) — I have heard that up in Canberra last night the Greens were playing a drinking game. Every time the federal Treasurer in his budget speech mentioned the words 'climate change' or 'inequality', you had to throw back a shot of tequila. Not surprisingly they are fairly clear-eyed up there. The federal Liberal government brought in a typically Liberal budget. It managed to cut taxes at the top end while actually increasing the size of government overall, and to hell with the environment.
Well, we could have had the same exercise down here. It was a fairly typical Labor budget: increase taxes, spend it on a range of projects — many of which we agree with, many of which we do not — and to hell with the environment. Not surprisingly we see in the opinion polls that young people aged 18 to 25 are saying, 'To hell with the old parties'. The Greens vote is now up in the thirties, has overtaken the Liberals amongst that group and is about ready to overtake the Labor Party as well.
Young people in this country have the right to enjoy life and think about the weekend, but they know instinctively that the future is incredibly important to them, because they are the ones who will be living in it. Therefore the growing environmental concern, particularly amongst young people, about the environmental crisis is something MPs in this place must face.
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