Open letter released

Today, as 2024 is declared the hottest year on record, we are proud to release our open letter to the Federal Government, calling on them to legislate a Duty of Care. Our letter is co-signed by several notable and high profile individuals, as well as organisations. These include Australia’s most decorated Olympian, Emma McKeon, elders and leaders from across the Pacific, activists and former politicians.

An ancient proverb goes ‘We do not inherit the world from our ancestors. We borrow it from our children.’ However, our reality is starkly different. A child turning ten years old this year has lived through the ten hottest years on record. 

These words should shock and devastate us all. We are watching as records topple and climate disaster takes hold of the world around us, and yet there is no legislated mechanism to acknowledge what we all know to be true - that it is my generation and those to come that will bear the brunt of the effects of climate change.

This is a gap in policy that needs to be remedied immediately, by legislating a Duty of Care and ensuring that governments are held accountable to future generations for their responsibility to pass on a planet that is safe and liveable.

We thank all the amazing people who have put their name to our cause.