Today young people from across Victoria will come to Parliament to attempt to enshrine the 'right to a safe climate' in Victoria's human rights charter. The move is supported by the Victorian Greens who will introduce the legislation.
The move comes just weeks after a Federal Labor-led Senate Committee rejected a bill to legislate a duty of care, which - developed following 2022's historic but unsuccessful Sharma v Minister for the Environment case - would have ensured that lawmakers consider the health and wellbeing of young people when making decisions that cause climate harm.
Many other jurisdictions have similar measures enshrined into their Charter of Human Rights, including in the ACT here in Australia as well as places like Colombia, the Philippines, South Korea and even the state of Montana in the US.
This Bill will add the Right to a Safe Climate to the Victorian Charter of Human Rights. The Bill legislates the fact that every Victorian deserves the right to a safe climate and provides a legal tool for future generations and frontline communities, who are most impacted by the climate crisis, to hold governments to account for any actions that make climate change worse, such as opening new coal mines or gas drilling.
Prominent youth climate activist Anjali Sharma has endorsed the Victorian Greens Bill, saying that the right to a safe climate is long overdue in Victoria. Anjali is known for her landmark legal case, Sharma v Environment Minister. Now she's championing the campaign for a federally legislated duty of care and thrown her support behind the Right to a Safe Climate in Victoria.
As stated by the Leader of the Victorian Greens, Ellen Sandell:
"Young people across Victoria are terrified about the world they're going to inherit. Young people know they're the ones who have to live with the consequences of climate change, which is made worse by Labor and Liberal Governments opening up new coal mines and gas drilling."
"The Greens MPs are proud to stand alongside these brave young people who are calling for their right to a safe climate to be put into Victorian law.."
As stated by climate activist, Anjali Sharma:
"Young people have been campaigning for the recognition of their right to a safe climate and safe future for many years.
"To legislate this would be a recognition of the intergenerational inequity of climate change, the fact that current and future generations will be worst affected by climate disaster and that governments have an obligation to ensure that the young people of today and tomorrow can continue to experience the world in the same way that generations before them have.
"Young people are staring down the barrel at a world that could be characterised by climate disaster increasing exponentially in frequency and severity.
"The right to a safe climate is universal and inalienable, and to legislate this in Victoria is long overdue.
"Immediate and decisive recognition of this right is needed to ensure we can provide current and future generations with the safety and security they deserve in the face of runaway climate change."
As stated by Jesse, 26-year-old bushfire survivor and the Co-Founder of Victorian Parliament's Youth Advisory Group:
"In February 2009 when I was ten years old, I saw the Black Saturday bushfires from my own backyard. My mum told me to pack my favourite things and a change of clothes. My family had to flee in case our house burnt down.
"This event was traumatic for my local community. While my family was lucky, many people lost their lives, including three of my Year 5 classmates. And everyone at my primary school suffered from this trauma in one way or another.
"Climate change is an existential threat that disproportionately affects young people. A safe climate is a human right, that is not an abstract idea, and the Victorian State Government has a responsibility to act on it."
