being a young person and doing what you can to put pressure on government and big polluters is no easy task there is so so much work and emotional energy required to have those tough conversations and to walk through hallways where people your age us don't walk.
Through Angelie is like a lot of teenagers who want the world to be a better place and I believe those in power do have a duty of care to young people at the age of 16 I sued the government to protect us from the impacts of climate change we have stakes in this conversation this is our.
future and's really latched on to that con concept that adults should take care of children um and take care of matters that will affect them in the future a crazy idea in Parliament this week that governments should have a duty of care to the Next Generation when deciding.
Legislation I personally don't think uh we need a bill or a Court ruling to tell me as a legislator that I have a duty of care uh the Australian people tell me that every 3 years I really hope that the government will come to the table with a constructive and open mind it's a lot of responsibility and there's immense expectations that are being.
Placed upon her shoulders the types of commentary and the types of attacks on her were were horrible I I don't want to be aggressive with you but if you're going to throw that out there what what year are you in by the way about 10 11 I remember feeling incredibly dejected incredibly um hopeless but that being said it's also incredibly rewarding and.
Seeing what young people can do when empowered and given even a smid of the tools needed to make a difference has been amazing let's go good girl this way this way come here come on over the last 3 years there been heaps of moments where I've kind of just wish.
That I could be a teenager who you know focuses on the next exam coming up or the next party and you know doesn't have that sense of um overwhelming worry about the world that would be quite nice catch good girl I come home to Melbourne every uni break catch because I miss with my.
Brother a lot when I'm up in Campa come on let's go inside let's go I had myself son we are very close and uh of course uh when she decided to go to canar it was not easy uh but I knew that she has some goal for herself come on there can be weeks where it feels like my entire life is just emails and.
Phone calls about the duty of care campaign what are you doing um just answering some emails sometimes I have noticed that she's not able to switch off so I tell her you back you just turn it off you know just relax thank you seeing what my family in India has gone through for the last few years was what first evoked.
That sense of Injustice and that sense of passion within me to to make a difference I've been back to India five times since we migrated when I was 10 months old my family is from a place called lck now in India which is a few hundred kilm.
Outside of the capital of Delhi it's got less of the hustle and bustle of the city and more of the community feel everyone knows everyone's names there's stray dogs on the street and there's cows but you know it's it's home and that's kind of what home's always been.
To me how you feel for first time six years six years been a while how was the travel long very long all her cousin and her aunties and uncles I really want them to know what she's doing how has a campaign gone so far it's turned into a very very big thing in Australia like all the politicians know about it it's.
Been in the news a lot and I think that they do take an interest in it because over the last few years the impacts of climate change in India have been quite devastating and my family in particular have most significantly been impacted by p waves first time football SKS it's constantly like uh the.
Temperature will rise to such a extreme it used to be 35 then it's going to 40s so yeah it's rising and I think we are a midst of a crisis and the people don't know about it the heat wave that occurred in India in 2022 um i' heard horrific stories of Ash fat melting of birds falling out of the sky and also rubbish tips um.
Catching Fire last two years many people love lost their life because of heat waves and then flood came and we saw that you know the tray is going the uh electric poles and power lines are just flowing in the water looking back on it now I would have been around 12 or 13 when I first.
Began to draw a link between what I was seeing happen in India and the words climate change that was something I'd never done up until that point I remember towards the end of primary school Angeli started researching U more about climate scientists believe it's human activity.
That's driving the temperatures up I remember watching a video that talked to me through why global warming needed to be limited to 1.5° above prehistoric levels and the difference between that and 2° of warming the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere will continue to rise the extent of those impacts shocked me.
Really really significantly so she started kind of educating all of us you leave the room you turn the light off you don't leave the to open when you are brushing your teeth I like to take credit for radicalizing my mom um it's a bit of a it's a bit of a joke in the.
Family but I do like to think that a lot of my beliefs have influenced hers so we all I think grew along with anguli because she really stood up just leading all of us and she also became part of Youth climate moment which was just taking off.
The youth climate movement really kicked off in Australia uh towards the end of 2018 when the first school strikes happened I remember watching initial videos of the school climate strikes and thinking that they were incredibly powerful in the world of climate change and the climate Wars that we've had Australia was considered to be a bit of.
A Lago and then the whole movement of young people really took hold because it put that focus on it isn't just about today it is about the future kids need to lead on climate change because the adults are failing but I think everyone remembers the government's response to that initial School strike what we want is.
More learning in schools and less activism in schools even better put your fingers on the keyboard and send your local parliamentarian an email get on with your studies and prepare yourself for future life politicians say oh well the kids should be in school they shouldn't be out on the street protesting uh we sort.
Of all went well buger that we're going out anyway let's show them today that we will not stand by we will not let our government stand by as our future Burns we got to I complete this stre when I was 14 I'd helped organize phys schal strikes down in Melbourne and they were.
massive there were grandparents there were farmers and there were miners and there were people from all walks of life supporting our cause I don't think I ever felt more powerful as a young person and I knew that I wanted to dedicate much of my life to that cause such a huge.
Demonstration of of public support for ambitious climate action we thought the government can't possibly ignore this but there really was a massive turnout but very few politicians bothered to even address the issue what does that tell you it show you see that our government is prioritizing economic profit over our.
FIA even though we managed to get people on the streets of Melbourne 300,000 nationally none of the actual policy changes that we were advocating for were implemented there were climate strikes right around the country organizers estimate 300,000 joined the protest na our small team of lawyers were watching the school strike for climate movement.
And we understood one of their key asks was for no new coal mines and we were thinking about that as as lawyers we were interested to see whether they wanted to bring a case that would challenge the federal ministers possible approval of her coine on the basis that she had a duty of care to avoid harming children and they were looking for young.
People to participate and engage in that process I had no second thoughts about jumping on board essentially we were trying to stop the then envir Minister Susan Lee from approving the extension of a cold line called the vicory extension project located in the mining reg of New South.
Wales as the the case was essentially in my name the case became known as the Sha versus Minister for the environment so she did become in some ways the face of the case I became involved when David Baron rang me up the students being under 18.
Couldn't represent themselves and so they had to search around for someone who was over 18 sister brigard previously acted as a litigation Guardian many many times um but that was in the context of Asylum Seekers she really really believed in the concept of empowering young.
People I'm quite passionate about the issue in itself I used to be a science teacher so I couldn't help but think I wish I'd had some of these young students in my classes as soon as we filed the proceeding back in September 2020 there was immediate medor interest we had eight young people and an 86 year- old.
Nun there'd been no case like this before the teen green and the nun has a pretty great Ring to it as a title um have you thought about scripting this into a TV show or even a feature film well that's that's going a bit far I think the next Avenue for change first protest and court room then a TV show who.
Knows I went to the court for the first day of the hearings and that was one of the first times I've ever been to a court being a young person there on a day off from year 11 it was more so intimidating anything else just everyone seemed so tall everyone seemed so well dressed and you know I was wondering how.
I'd ended up there and what I was doing after the first day of cod case Angelie followed the live stream from our school Angelie had come into school early and find a empty classroom where she could log on to a a zoom call to be able to do a a podcast to explain what was happening in her case and then would.
Have to turn around 15 minutes later and go and attend an English class now if global warming is all about the science why do global warming activists keep getting children to push their wild claims there was a lot of media criticism these young people are naive they're being controlled by the lawyers they're being controlled by their.
Parents they're being controlled by the renewable energy companies I don't know the inner workings of the legal system so I have relied on the help of lawyers nobody's pressuring me to do this I've got so many other ways I could be spending my time they are aware of what's going on and what needs to be done and they are.
Standing up for themselves and for other people the young people they desperately wanted this uh case to win desperately wanted it as a much much older person I couldn't help thinking oh I hope they're not too let down in mid 2021 the judge handed down.
His decision I was watching the live stream from my year 11 economics class and it was quite surprising there are features of the relationship between the minister and the children which favor the recognition of a common law duty of care the judge didn't issue an injunction to stop the coal mine because he couldn't.
Be sure the minister would actually breach her Duty however the judge decided that there was a duty of care that the minister owed to children and it was the first time that the federal court had considered it and accepted it a class action by a group of Australian school students has set legal precedent which.
Experts say could have widespread ramifications for climate change policy to have a Court rule in favor of us felt incredibly validating it felt like you know we've been fighting for this for years and years through the school strikes it is a historic judgment so this is an amazing decision it's the first time in the world that such a duty.
Has been recognized I didn't agree with the Judgment no final orders have been made and both both I and my department are considering the Judgment cartoons were made about the trial we were approached by documentry makers and people wanting to make drama series out of it and J's had her phone.
Ringing nonstop the joy of that Court Victory lasted about 2 months before the government announced their intentioned argue that they didn't in fact owe us a duty of care the appeal was heard in October of 2021.
Yeah we're going to know any minute yeah is quite scary the federal court has ruled that the environment Minister does not have a duty of care to young people when assessing fossil fuel projects I remember sitting on the floor of the federal court hand inand with my fellow litigant and as soon as the court.
The judges said that they wouldn't be imposing the duty of care I remember them completely breaking down into tears the appeal court accepted The Minister's argument that it was the domain of parliament to impose or not impose a GD of care I would say to young people what I have just said that I take my responsibilities very seriously my.
Statute responsibilities in protecting the environment under the act so are you guys going to keep fighting the fight for climate Justice never stops no matter what the federal court hands down and Jal sha what's your response to today's ruling um I can't lie I'm absolutely devastated and really really angry yeah we aren't old enough to vote.
And it it devastates me because I feel as the lead litigant she had to defend her position and she had to do it all in the moment when which is an incredibly difficult thing to do I'm keeping all the articles of angelie's work and not all the all of them are positive yes this article the headline already is quite like.
Patronizing school girl um will strike from her $25,000 a year private school and protest it draws attention to my school fees like to make me out as a very like privileged very spoiled person and that actually I think really hurt her because I mean Angela she's a scholarship student um she couldn't have been here without that a.
Lot of the criticism I've received over the last few years has been race based or it's been gender based or it's been Age based I got this one once which was quite funny to me are you just an Indian operative working against the interests of Australia um straight out of India go protest your Old Government all this BS you have no idea at some point I said.
Just don't look at these thing just shut off you know turn the Instagram of don't go on Twitter um she was U disheartened devastated but at the same time redetermined to F back you know just because the court overturned that ruling it doesn't mean the duty of care concept had to die then after the federal court decision.
David and I and some of the other lawyers started to discuss the idea of a GD of care bill that's right and that's precisely what the court suggested the court had said that they weren't finding necessarily that a duty of care didn't exist but just that it wasn't the job of the courts to impose it but rather the job of parliament to legislate it yeah.
There's a a wealth of information in in the case on on how such a duty of care could work the thing about an is that she didn't let it fizzle out that she kept going and she said I really want to make this happen Angeli moved to canbar in uh 2023.
Beginning of 2023 definitely being in this duty of care case has created a big impact in that decision that she want to pursue La how are you I'm good you it was a perfect place for me not just to study law and arts but also to continue and to build this campaign so not science I built up this body of research.
Which I then began to take to politicians to ask them to hear me out and to take on the bill and got in touch about the duty of care we then started to work out well how how could you actually do this in law I'm here today standing alongside Senator Perot as we table this bill in Parliament to.
Implement a statutory duty of care the bill would establish that when the government is looking at approving or funding new fossil fuel developments that they are required to consider the health and well-being of young people as a Paramount consideration in that process too many of the decisions we make in this place do not factor in the.
Futures of young people and future Australians so I was thinking like we could frame it as like a little panel about intergenerational equality and it could be there as a climate perspective after the bill was launched the campaign was gaining traction so we started to put together a bit of a team that would be.
The inim Machinery of the campaign everything we do I feel like is a massive long shot people like me interested in advocacy interested in politics what was that figure that you were saying when I became aware of the campaign it sort of immediately jumped on board not too many stats cuz the numbers will.
Get mixed up in people's heads none of us have ever participated in parliamentary legislation drafting before and none of us have ever had to run a Grassroots campaign out of our unid dorms and it's it's massive learning curve oh let's actually check where the EDM is at we thought what a great opportunity to have a bunch of.
Young people come to Parliament and to talk about the duty of care bill with their local representative hi I'm an and I'm Jess and it is 7:00 a.m. and we are currently on our way to Parliament it's going to be a massive day and we're so excited um come along guys and see how it goes that's a run.
Sheet for you my friend and you guys are meeting with an independent that's your first meeting we've only been here once on a school Excursion and it's all like we never came here to actually discuss something in my notebook I have like a million book it feels like the government is so.
Far away from you um and today we've actually got that opportunity to just come here and actually express ourselves it was a 12-hour day and it was full of meetings I think we had 35 that day hello to meet you Lely to meet you as well and hello I think it was really confronting for a lot of politicians to.
Have young people as young as 12 come and sit on couches and talk about their fears in relation to climate change I am a super I'm like I'm a super future focused person and I hate feeling out of control I think it's a really I'm very very supportive we got lots and lots of advice from the independence and the crossbench in particular you know trying.
To get through legislation is you don't always necessarily get everything you want I think we went into the meetings knowing that it's kind of their full-time job to negotiate and to bring the government on side and that's what we're trying to do nice to see to see you again for this bill to pass we need a really productive really constructive.
Working relationship with the government be really good place to say why do you care about it and why do you think it's important we've been in several meetings today where we've been like looked at by government MPS and we've been told oh but we have this Target and we have this amendment and we have this legislation there is still no policy that takes into.
Account our interests our health and our wellbeing we offered up this bill as another tool in their belt to achieve their targets and to complement their policies the current Commonwealth government was elected on the basis of 82% renewable energy by 2030 as of the middle of last year we're up to about.
35% renewable energy in our electricity grid we're not going fast enough yet but it's not simple we're here for one reason like everybody is here today and that's to pull a halt to this Reckless renewable race yeah look we we all have concern about.
How do we reduce our emissions how do we look after our environment that's the only thing at contention here is about how we achieve it and who Bears the burden of it I care about our children's future and this is not the way to go my constituents are very concerned about the pace and the consultation in which uh the government has undertaken this.
Because they are recklessly trying to do this by 2030 the wind turbines around us they're planning that are going to Tower over our homes are one and a half times the S the size of the Sydney Harbor Bridge have you got that mental picture we'll have a look at the bill uh but we should pause we should plan and get this right we've got time uh and we.
Should put all the options on the table how can we delay this even further climate scientists are telling us we can't but we have this really narrow window window to act and the duty of care is about forcing politicians to actually do that and to be expanding the fossil fuel industry in 2023 2024 is total.
Madness uh good morning on behalf of the committee I'd like to welcome everyone here today so we're in Parliament House today and the Senate is holding a full day um inquiry into the duty of care bill we hope that we don't come out of this process without a you of care because it's been put in the too hard basket you know we protect our children.
From smoking we protect our children from gambling from alcohol to not consider the climate change impacts on children is an emission but is this the right manner is this the bill that will give you the outcome that you seek I'm a liberal I'm for smaller government this is absolutely insane and offensive to me that we're going to legislate a thought.
Process as we put policy in place a lot of us parents we all do consider the future it's very rare for private centers bills to pass and so ultimately this will come down to Australians saying to their local representative this is something I want and I'm going to continue to to push and an and hundreds of thousands of young people.
Across the country are part of that it was initially quite intimidating to be looking senators in the eye and really fully advocating for this build um ultimately um 50 years down the track we are the ones who will be making decisions for the world we are the ones who will be um living out our lives in a world shaped by the impacts of the.
Decisions made today I think right now I'm just feeling a lot of adrenaline and a lot of exhilaration um I think I'll go home tonight and absolutely crash and reflect on the last four years and just how draining truly the process has been hello hi thanks so much um just to the Australian National University pleas.
Thank you sometimes I feel she's taking too much on herself so we do have arguments on that sometimes like a typical 19-year-old being rebellious but I know that that's her passion and is a a young woman who's put much on the line for what she believes in so I will watch as long as I'm alive.
I will watch uh her future with interest we don't have time baby steps anymore so I'm not going to stop campaigning for radical change because I think that that's the only way to to safeguard the rights of young people in the face of climate.
Change I can't wait till I'm having meetings with you guys you are so cool and a thank you also you guys are so cool so just imagine being that Parliament person and just seeing a bunch of kids hey we're going to talk to you and we're kids see you can't say no eat it here we go 1 2 three everybody say.
care that
