A teenager whose family home was destroyed in bushfires has delivered an impassioned plea to the Prime Minister to take action on climate change, saying “thoughts and prayers are not enough”.
Shiann Broderick, 18, who lost her home in Nymboida in northern NSW, gathered along with about 500 protesters outside Liberal Party headquarters in the inner-city Sydney suburb of Woolloomooloo.
“Mr Morrison, as Prime Minister your thoughts and prayers are not enough,” Ms Broderick said.
“I want climate action. This is a crisis. Act like it.”
A series of strikes in cities across the country took place today as part of the School Strike for Climate Australia in response to recent devastating bushfires.
Student activists walked out of school to protest outside the offices of politicians and fossil fuel companies.
In Sydney’s eastern suburbs, students from Bronte, Clovelly, Bondi, Bondi Beach and Waverley Public Schools marched to Marks Park.
Signs carried in the crowd read, “We need climate action. Thoughts and prayers aren’t enough”, and “You’re burning our future”.
Ms Broderick said the Government was “denying science” in its response to climate change after her family “lost everything” in Nymboida bushfires a few weeks ago.
“On Friday the 8th of November, our entire town of Nymboida was swept through by a massive bushfire. We lost our house and so did many of my other friends,” Ms Broderick said.
“This terrible, catastrophic bushfire just swept through our area, we lost everything, and they’re [politicians] just denying that climate change has anything to do with it.
“They’re just clearly denying the science,” she said.
Daisy Jeffrey, a 17-year-old student, moved a maths exam to attend the protest.
“Unfortunately, school students don’t feel like we have a choice, we feel like we have to be out here demanding action,” she said.