Sustainable development under the new Labor government - In conversation with a member of the Greens

This event brought together students from across Australia who were wondering what exactly the future looks like for young people in Australia with a Labor Government in charge.

Run through the Sustainable Universities Network, GAP teamed up with UQ Greens, in addition to the UTS Greens, UniMelb Greens, Monash Greens, and UofA Greens.

Elizabeth Watson-Brown MP, former Senator Robert Simms MLC and youth activist Anjali Sharma joined students with a wide variety of perspectives, providing a voice for young people present.

Elizabeth Watson-Brown MP is the newly elected Greens Member for Ryan, is an Adjunct Professor of Architecture and a long-term local resident of St Lucia. Robert Simms is a Member of the Legislative Council in the Parliament of South Australia.

Anjali Sharma is 18 years old and was the lead litigant of the Sharma vs Environment Minister, a class action legal case which, in 2021, which successfully established that the environment minister owes all young people a duty of care to protect them from the impacts of climate change.

The main topic of discussion was Australia’s performance according to the 2022 SDG Index report, in the context of Labor promising to enact climate policies. In the SDG Index report, Australia ranked 38th out of 163 reporting countries, with a disappointing lack of progress amongst the SDGs. With this in mind, many young Australians are asking how exactly the Labor Government will manage to turn this around in the short seven years remaining to the target year of the Sustainable Development Goals, 2030.

Questions asked by the audience covered the overall transition to renewables, how public transport infrastructure in Brisbane can be improved for the Olympics, how individual states can pull their weight in climate policy, and what the next steps are for young people to demand climate action.

Students stated that some policy changes they wanted to see enacted included an affordable cost of living for the working class, better refugee policies, a carbon tax, subsidies for research into renewable technologies, and an end to approvals for new coal and gas mines.

Students also added to an online whiteboard where they contributed their biggest concerns for Australia’s future.

The session was very positive, with speakers leaving the attendees hopeful that there is change on the horizon in the Australian Government, to ensure better progress towards the SDG’s in next year’s report.