Barbara Pocock (SA, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Our planet is in trouble. For years we've had too much talk and too little action by the major parties—years of stalling from National and Liberal parties and too little from Labor. Just this week, we heard that emissions under Labor have risen 3.6 million tonnes this year, and it is greenlighting new coal and gas projects, new projects that propel us towards an unsafe planet. This year, 2023, has been the warmest year in recorded history, and many Australians can see this for what it is. Climate crisis is not a problem of the future; it is a problem of now.

Two weeks ago, thousands of Australians took things into their own hands. They paddled out into the port of Newcastle, the world's largest coal port, in the biggest peaceful civil disobedience action in Australian history. They shut down coal exports for 32 hours, 3,000 of them—grandmothers, mothers, kids, parents. I paddled out onto the water, three generations in our little boat—my child Indi and grandchild Jordi. The oldest paddler was 97-year-old Reverend Alan Stuart, who, as he was arrested for staying on past the 30 hours of the official blockade, said, 'I think it's my duty to do what I can to stand up for what I know is right.' Sixty per cent of those arrested were women—grandmothers and mothers.

We're going to see more people take such action as the climate crisis worsens. Our world is going backwards on carbon reduction. Worldwide, carbon emissions from fossil fuels over the past year have actually increased. There is no sign of the rapid and deep decrease in emissions that we must see around the world, and until we see that, we can expect more peaceful civil disobedience by people like the determined paddlers of the 2023 Newcastle blockade. The tide is rising.