About the campaign
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The Duty of Care campaign revolves around one core belief.
If we, as a society, know that it is young people and future generations who will be worst affected by climate change, then this must be reflected in legislation.
This is why we’re campaigning for a Duty of Care - a legislated requirement for government decision-makers to hold the health and wellbeing of young people and future generations as a paramount consideration when making decisions that will worsen climate change.
Why?
Because even though we know that climate change will get worse in frequency and severity, leaving our generation and generations to come to bear the brunt, there is nothing in the law that requires politicians to consider this. Nothing that mandates them to make the best choices for the future. The law, as it stands, lets our politicians think in short term, 3 year election cycles, at the cost of our future.
Our campaign goes back to 2020, to the court case of Sharma v Minister for the Environment. Eight young people, led by our founder Anjali Sharma, took the former Federal Environment Minister to court, arguing that she owed them a duty of care to protect them in the face of climate change. Initially, this argument was successful. Later on, it was overturned on appeal. However, when overturning the decision to impose this duty of care, the Federal Court said explicitly that they weren’t necessarily doing so because such a duty didn’t exist, but because if it did exist, it was the job of parliament to legislate it.
And that’s how our campaign came to be.
In 2023, Anjali Sharma worked with ACT Independent Senator David Pocock to launch a bill in the Senate to legislate a Duty of Care. Despite this bill receiving the support of major medical organisations around Australia, businesses, unions, former high-profile politicians, activists and young people, the government has refused their support.
A similar bill has also been introduced in the South Australian parliament. The government is yet to indicate their standing.
Our team
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Anjali Sharma
Anjali (‘Anj’) was the lead litigant of Sharma v Minister for the Environment, and then led the drive to turn the court case into a legislative campaign. She studies law and works as a paralegal, and in her time off she loves to run and play sport, bake (her dream is to open a bakery one day), or hang out with anyone’s dog.
For her work in climate change reform, Anj has received several accolades such as the 2025 ACT Young Woman of the Year award, the 2025 Marie Claire Eco-Warrior of the Year award, and nominations for the 2025 Young Australian of the Year and Human Rights medal awards.
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Hannah Vardy
There isn’t a part of the environmental movement in Canberra that Hannah hasn’t been involved with. She’s done work with the Australian Youth Climate Coalition, the Conservation Council and with the ANU Institute for Climate, Energy and Disaster solutions, to name a few.
While campaigning for a Duty of Care, somehow, Hannah also finds time to run ultramarathons every once in a while, while studying a double degree in law and science, and working part time.
Daisy Jeffrey
You probably saw Daisy on your TV screens in 2019. One of the faces of the early School Strike 4 Climate movement in Sydney, Daisy now works full time alongside campaigning for a Duty of Care.