We’re taking the Australian government to court

Today, in the Federal Court, eight children, led by myself as lead litigant, have filed a class action against the Federal Environment Minister, Sussan Ley. We’re arguing that the environment minister has a Duty of Care to protect us from the impacts of climate change.

All of us plaintiffs are young people who have our own experiences with climate impacts. For me, I was born in India - a country on the frontlines of climate change. I’ve grown up seeing floods and heatwaves devastate my country, and I see them getting worse, more frequent and more severe. A world characterised by climate disaster is not one I want to inherit, or pass onto future generations.

Last year, 300,000 people turned up around the country to march for climate action, and call on the government to show more ambition. The government found it all too easy to ignore us.

This is why we’re taking the government to court. Because the Environment Minister, when exercising her power, simply must do so with our best interests in mind. And we’ll make sure she doesn’t get to ignore us this time.