Steph Hodgins-May (Victoria, Australian Greens) | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That the following matter be referred to the Environment and Communications References Committee for inquiry and report by 14 October 2026:

Fossil fuel industry engagement with children and young people, with particular reference to:

(a) the scale, nature and extent of fossil fuel industry engagement with children and young people, including through sponsorships, partnerships, educational resources, curriculum, programs, scholarships, mentoring initiatives and other activities undertaken directly or through industry associations, foundations and third-party organisations;

(b) the extent to which such activities influence children's and young people's attitudes, perceptions, beliefs and understanding of climate change, energy, environmental issues and the fossil fuel industry itself;

(c) the adequacy of existing transparency, disclosure, governance and oversight arrangements relating to fossil fuel industry engagement with children and young people;

(d) options to strengthen transparency, disclosure, accountability and protections for children and young people; and

(e) any other related matters.

This issue should concern every parent in the country. When a child walks into a classroom, they expect to receive an education. Their parents expect their children to receive an education, not brainwashing by multinational corporations with one objective: to make profit for as long as they possibly can. They want to brainwash our kids and buy social licence so they can pollute and plunder for as long as they possibly can and so they can make profits for their shareholders for as long as they possibly can, with no regard for these very children who are going to inhabit a future filled with extreme weather events and filled with uncertainty around crops, food security and climate insecurity.

It is devastating to know that this is going on for children as young as six months old. They're being dressed up in Santos vests or Woodside vests. They're being brainwashed about the climate crisis and being told that everyone has a responsibility. But of course they're not being told that it is those carbon majors who are pumping out pollution and destroying their futures. They're learning through vegemite on bread about the oil industry. They're plucking raisins out of cake to learn about mining and the benefits of mining. It is simply unacceptable that this is going on under the watch of state and federal education ministers. It is simply unacceptable.

Matthew Canavan (Queensland, Liberal National Party) | Link to this | Hansard source

Have you ever played Minecraft before? I don't want to trigger you.

Steph Hodgins-May (Victoria, Australian Greens) | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Canavan, I know your connections to the coal industry, and I know you have young children, so it frankly bamboozles me every time you speak about this.

Karen Grogan (SA, Australian Labor Party) | Link to this | Hansard source

Okay—

Steph Hodgins-May (Victoria, Australian Greens) | Link to this | Hansard source

He's interjecting, so I took the interjection.

Karen Grogan (SA, Australian Labor Party) | Link to this | Hansard source

No, resume your seat, Senator Hodgins-May. We go to a pretty low place if we're casting aspersions on people's families in this place.

Steph Hodgins-May (Victoria, Australian Greens) | Link to this | Hansard source

I'm casting aspersions on Senator Canavan.

Karen Grogan (SA, Australian Labor Party) | Link to this | Hansard source

Please continue your commentary, but I will ask you to—

Matthew Canavan (Queensland, Liberal National Party) | Link to this | Hansard source

Let's leave my kids out of it.

Karen Grogan (SA, Australian Labor Party) | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Canavan, thank you, that's enough.

Steph Hodgins-May (Victoria, Australian Greens) | Link to this | Hansard source

Parents across the country—

Karen Grogan (SA, Australian Labor Party) | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Hodgins-May, can you please just take a moment and then resume—

Matthew Canavan (Queensland, Liberal National Party) | Link to this | Hansard source

Calm down.

Karen Grogan (SA, Australian Labor Party) | Link to this | Hansard source

No, Senator Canavan, you're not helping. Senator Canavan, that is not helping at all. We have different opinions in this chamber, and people are entitled to express them without casting aspersions on other people or their families.

Peter Whish-Wilson (Tasmania, Australian Greens) | Link to this | Hansard source

A point of order, Acting Deputy President. Are you asking Senator Hodgins-May to withdraw that comment? Because otherwise you made a subjective value judgement as the chair of this Senate about something she said, which I don't think is appropriate. So I'd like for you to clarify that position, please.

Karen Grogan (SA, Australian Labor Party) | Link to this | Hansard source

Certainly. I was, as I would always do, providing some caution. But if you believe it should be withdrawn, then I will ask Senator Hodgins-May to withdraw it.

Peter Whish-Wilson (Tasmania, Australian Greens) | Link to this | Hansard source

I'm not asking for it to be withdrawn, and nor do I believe it should be withdrawn. I think it's in order. I was asking you to clarify if you were making that point of order.

Karen Grogan (SA, Australian Labor Party) | Link to this | Hansard source

There is no point of order, Senator Whish-Wilson. As I am always prone to do if I start to see a conversation heading in a direction that I think will bring this place into disrepute or a disorderly environment, I will, at the first point, offer a suggestion of people to maintain the order. So no, I don't believe that we have gone that far. It was a caution, which I think is the appropriate level of response based on the commentary. If you have an issue with that, I'm happy to take that under advisement. Senator Hodgins-May, would you like to resume? I would just ask people to listen to the contribution in silence or leave the chamber.

Steph Hodgins-May (Victoria, Australian Greens) | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you. I am in this place, and my Greens colleagues are in this place, to protect children from corporate influence and to fight for this place to represent everyday people, not those corporate giants who purely exist to make profits. This is about making sure that our children are taught evidence and that they are taught by teachers with education and science based principles, not by industries trying to protect their reputations.

Our message to the fossil fuel industry is to get your dirty hands off our kids. Our message to the government, our urging to the government, is to please step up and take some responsibility here. We shouldn't have to be having this debate. We would not allow tobacco producers and the tobacco industry to teach our kids about health education. Why on earth are we letting the fossil fuel industry brainwash our kids? I say to the fossil fuel industry: leave your kids out of our marketing strategies and pay the tax on gas exports that this country is owed on our resources. There has to be a line in the sand. Surely all of us in this place can agree that our children deserve a fair and evidence informed education.

Debate interrupted.