The simple truth for reversing climate change is right in front of us
[Music]
[Applause]
so
about 15 years ago i had the first job
directly related to climate change in my
life and
i was really excited i was working for a
department in the northern territory
it was responsible for climate change
environment the arts natural resources
all of the good things right and i was
really excited at the opportunities
there
but all i was seeing was blocks and
i wanted to be part of the solution but
i was actually feeling really powerless
and if i’m honest with you part of a
bigger problem
i was sharing these feelings with a
really good friend i’d made up in the
territory
and was wondering well if i can’t make a
difference here where should i go next
where is that place that i could be more
effective
and she said to me well she actually
gave me the best advice of my life which
i wanted to share with you today she
said
there is no one place that we have to be
everywhere
we have to be everywhere to make things
line up
and i feel like it’s really important
timing to be reminded of this or to
share this with you because
acting alone we will not win
we need to find each other like never
before to make those things line up
and that’s why 15 years later i’m so
proud today to be talking about the
clean state jobs plan
26 big ideas for 200 000 jobs
it’s a blueprint for decarbonisation in
western australia
and it’s proudly parochial and it’s hard
not to talk about it without getting
really excited but it’s also hard to
talk about it in a presentation without
giving you 400 slides and a massive
shopping list because
it is a blueprint for decarbonisation so
what i’m going to do today instead is a
ted exclusive it’s a 60 second
snapshot a 60 second showcase
so are you ready
okay start the clock 90 contributors
over 10 economic sectors creating
200 000 jobs reducing emissions by
two-thirds by 2030 and creating at least
three billion dollars of benefits
every year plus another three billion if
we had a green steel industry
it covers everything from local repair
labs in our communities right through to
entire transition plans for colleen for
southwest forestry
it would see renewables 90 renewables on
our grid by 2030
and all of our schools would be covered
with solar panels and powered by
batteries
which fun fact would create 435 million
dollars in savings over the lifetime of
those panels
it would decarbonize the gas industry
strongly invest in first nations culture
science and tourism and it would solve
homelessness in
three years by building fifteen thousand
low carbon homes for every family
languishing
on the waiting list what is not to love
the audacity of this plan the ambition
of this plan
is on the back of 15 years of fails
i remember the job i told you about in
the department well on my first day they
sat me down at a desk that had letters a
stack of letters this high
many of them had written from first
nations people pleading with the
government not to go ahead with the
macarthur river mine
while i was there the impex gas hub was
approved without even being assessed
in fact the election was brought early
six months so that it could guarantee
political stability
uh that’s one of the biggest polluters
in the world seven million
tons a year exporting gas worth 300
billion dollars
over its lifetime which we will not see
one cent of royalties and that is
happening here in western australia
today with our own gas industry
that is the subject for another talk it
happened
in communities i was part of as a
teenager when i was going down to
participate in forest actions because i
couldn’t believe we were cutting down
400 600 year old trees to be wood
chipped
and turned into toilet paper
that still happens today i felt it when
i was
all of those years working as a policy
wonk and advisor
creating countless costed initiatives
solutions it seemed like nobody was
listening to
because evidence doesn’t matter anymore
we are in a post-evidence reality
and then there were winds there were
massive winds only to have them unpicked
and i’m thinking of
the world-class carbon package that i
was really proud to be part of a party
that negotiated
to deliver and i’m talking about the
carbon price
the 872 million dollar fund for
biodiversity
the clean energy finance corporation got
introduced as part of the package and in
the first year that was introduced
emissions cut by seven percent and it
was actually
estimated to make us 24 billion over
three years
24 billion dollars in revenue only to be
erased by
the next government now
i’m sharing these stories of failure
with you because
i’m tired i’m really tired
i’m tired of jobs being used as an
excuse to justify projects that are
incompatible with our survival and i’m
tired
of simple elegant solutions being right
within our grasp right here in western
australia and being overlooked
and i’m tired of grief and sadness and
rage being
a baseline of emotions right now
and so that’s why it’s important when i
feel this way i know
i’m not the only one right and i’m
reminded of the advice that my friend
gave me
that there is no one place but that we
have to be everywhere and i’m reminding
you of this for three reasons today
the first is for hope
when i was given that advice it felt
like hope for the first time and
while we don’t have that luxury anymore
we know that time is ticking maybe
you’re in a job or you’re in a volunteer
position where you’re wondering where
could i have more power
well you are in the right place
the second reason is because finally i
feel like we’re starting to see really
big things line up
i’m thinking of joe biden’s two trillion
climate package
i’m thinking of the climate investor 100
plus that a global
group of investors now 400 strong
controlling 47 trillion
of global investment and they’re telling
the world’s biggest polluters
time is up i’m thinking of our jobs plan
because i feel like our jobs plan is the
embodiment of
finding where everyone is and lining
things up to make something greater than
the sum of its parts and we are
getting through doors we never have got
through before we’re having meetings
with ministers in the opposition
and we have businesses on board 200
businesses have signed up
we’re having amazing break breakthroughs
in the community
with our road shows and just with the
optimism that people can feel and they
can see themselves in this plan and it’s
so nice to talk about something positive
but the third reason i’m sharing this
with you
this advice with you today is because of
right here in this room
what could be possible if 250
of wa’s climate leaders were in the same
place magically
what could we line up what could be
possible if
someone magically stepped on the
accelerator to make us find each other
a decarbonized economy where we are all
part of the solution
and when no one is left behind
but we’ve been told that the community
aren’t ready
but polling we’ve done for two years in
a row has found that 80 percent
of people in the community want action
on climate change
we’ve been made to feel like we are the
radicals that
we are in the minority but our polling
also found that only four percent of
people that were surveyed were
true deniers we’ve been told that action
on climate change is expensive or
cost jobs it’ll wreck the economy but we
know the opposite is true
our plan creates 200 000 jobs and
we know all of us here would know that
action on climate change is the best
thing you can do for the economy and
society
so that’s why i’m urging you not to play
small
i’m urging you to find each other
i’m urging you to have tough
conversations
at work or where you volunteer
especially if that’s in oil and gas
and i remember because
the advice was that we have to be
everywhere
and it turns out that we are
so let’s act like it thank you