Alicia Payne (Canberra, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Today I rise to speak as part of the Youth Voice in Parliament campaign run by Raise Our Voice Australia. This is a fantastic initiative which brings young Australians' voices into the nation's parliament. I've been very proud to support this initiative in the past, and I plan to continue to do so.

Australia's youth are some of the most engaged people in our communities. Too often, their really important contribution isn't heard, so this is a great opportunity to hear them. I received a number of really compelling, excellent speeches as part of this year's campaign, and I thank everyone who took the time to write a speech and send it to me. Unfortunately, I can't read all of them in the parliament, but I did read and take a note of each one, and I thank you very much for the effort and thought that you put into those. The speech that I have chosen to read today is by my constituent Emma Wright, who is 10 years old. Her speech is titled, 'The Best Australia'. She says:

'I want Australia to be the best Australia it can be. Parliament, the Prime Minister and the state leaders are there to lead Australia to be the best Australia it can be, but I see most of the work being done for the cities and humans.

'There is more, you know. There are animals and bushland that are disappearing fast. So, if you want to help Australia, you have to do something about that—not just a small thing, but a big thing. These animals breathe the same air as us, feel the same way as us and have kids like us. Our bushland gives us air and provides habitat for animals.

'As well as that, our natural disasters are coming round more often. People are losing their homes and animals are dying, not to mention that the kids are the ones noticing these problems, and by the time we're in charge it will be too late to solve these problems.

'Don't you want your kids to grow up in a world that's balanced and healthy? So let's cut down on coal, use less plastic and save our wildlife and bushland for a better Australia.'

Thank you, Emma, for this powerful and heartfelt speech. I think it really gives us an insight into the way that children are perceiving the pressures on our environment, as well as the faith and the trust that they have in this parliament to take responsibility for and act on that.

I want to let Emma and all of my constituents know that your government is taking this task incredibly seriously. Since we were elected this year we have made huge strides on environmental reform and we have a long way to go. We have committed to a target of zero new extinctions of Australia's plants and animals and we've also signed on to the global 30 x 30 pledge, an initiative which will mean that at least 30 per cent of Australia's land and oceans will be protected by 2030, and I know that my colleague the Minister for the Environment and Water, Tanya Plibersek, is working very hard to this end.