Parents for Climate welcomes the release of the Senate report into the Climate Change Amendment (Duty of Care and Intergenerational Climate Equity) Bill 2023, particularly the dissenting reports made by Senator David Pocock and Senator Sarah Hanson-Young, but remain disappointed by the report’s recommendation that the Bill not be passed.
Nic Seton, Parents for Climate CEO said “As parents, we have a duty of care to our kids, and make all kinds of sacrifices to give them the best future we can. When will the government enshrine its duty of care to protect our children’s health and wellbeing from climate impacts?
“Our kids’ lives will be shaped by the climate impacts of government decisions, but they don’t get a vote. As parents, we elect governments to do the right thing for our kids, but this decision maintains worsening climate conditions.
“This report is the latest example of excuses and obfustication that support more pollution instead of climate science. But parents are used to seeing through excuses and attempts to evade responsibility, and getting to the heart of the matter.
“The heart of the matter here is that it remains lawful to damage the climate our kids are growing up in. As parents who know our kids deserve a safe climate, it’s not good enough.”
Parents for Climate volunteers around Australia held workshops with schools, meetings with MPs, and submission writing sessions with parents, collecting over 860 parents who added their names in support of the Bill.
ENDS
Media contacts:
Nic Seton, CEO Parents for Climate: 0407 638 973, nic@parentsforclimate.org
BACKGROUND:
Duty of Care
In December 2022 Parents for Climate took hundreds of artworks by children to the office of the then Environment Minister, Tanya Plibersek. The artworks were accompanied by a letter signed by 4,300 parents, calling on her to consider her duty of care to future generations in her ministerial decisions
Parents for Climate’s report into the child health impacts of worsening heatwaves
Parents for Climate’s 2023 report Hothouse Australia: Our kids at risk as heat soars, in collaboration with health advocacy group Sweltering Cities, highlights that millions of children, including over 760,000 children living in poverty in Australia, face heightened risks to their health and education from exposure to extreme summer heat in homes, schools and childcare centres. Around 3 in 4 lower-income households, already making hard choices to keep food on the table, are also likely to cut back on the use of air conditioning and cooling appliances due to cost pressures, despite living in poorly insulated and energy-inefficient homes.
ABOUT PARENTS FOR CLIMATE
Parents for Climate is Australia’s leading climate advocacy organisation for parents, carers, families and all who care about a safe future for kids, representing over 22,000 parents. Parents for Climate has been at the forefront of securing renewable energy in schools, such as the NSW Smart Energy School Pilot Project. Founded in 2019 by six regional, rural and urban mums in four states and territories, Parents for Climate is a parent organisation, run by parents for parents. Parents for Climate exists to secure ambitious climate action for the love of our kids.
Contact details:
Nic Seton, CEO Parents for Climate: 0407 638 973, nic@parentsforclimate.org
