Julie Owens (Parramatta, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Citizenship and Multicultural Australia) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

As part of the Youth Voice in Parliament project that I am running with young people in my electorate, I received a wonderful submission from Leticia, a nine-year-old from Dundas Valley who is passionate about the plight of the tiger. She submitted her speech with wonderful drawings of the tiger and the clouded leopard. I'm sorry I can't share them in this House, but I will put them up online with this speech. This is Leticia's voice. These are her words.

I am 9 years old and I love cats and big cats. I drew the pictures myself.

One of nature's great predators, tigers, are feared and admired in equal measure. But a long history of persecution has brought them to the brink of extinction. Many continue to be shot or trapped every year out of fear or greed.

The unusual cousin of the big cats is named for the gorgeous markings on its coat. It is among the most arboreal cats in the world and its agility when moving around in the woodlands and forests of southern Asia is second to none.

We must try and protect them so they don't get killed.

Thank you, Leticia.

Thank you, Leticia, for saying so clearly what so many young people feel: we must protect them so they don't get killed. Whether it's tigers, the clouded leopard or our own miniature possums or gliders, all endangered because of land clearing and climate change, her words ring absolutely true. We must try and protect them so they don't get killed—from nine-year-old Leticia.