Politics

Watch This Badass Teen Drag The Government Over Climate Change On Last Night’s ‘Q&A’

"If you’re supporting the fossil fuel industry then you don’t truly care about the future generations."

by Tom Clift  4 December 2018
Teen drags government over climate change on Q&A

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Last week, thousands of school kids took to the streets to protest Australia’s inaction on climate change. The government responded by telling them to stop being so activist before demanding they get back to class so they could learn how to build better coal mines. Clearly, the politicians weren’t going to act like adults. So on Monday, one of the protesters appeared on Q&A to give the nation’s leaders a piece of his mind.

“I’m greatly concerned about my future and the future of children all around the world who will suffer the consequences of climate change more than anyone else,” 17-year-old Marco Bellemo told the panel. “A few days ago, thousands of students from around Australia, like me, went on strike from school to demand that the government acts on climate change. When will the government start to care about my future and children around the world by acting on climate change and creating a strong climate policy?”

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Former Liberal MP Amanda Vanstone came to the defence of her party, telling Bellemo that while taking part in a protest can be “a very useful exercise in understanding democracy”, it made her sad to hear him say politicians didn’t care about his future.

“Both major parties have got policies,” she insisted. “Emissions are coming down… [Editor’s note: They’re not] to give the impression to young people that nobody cares I think is a bad thing.”

But Marco wasn’t buying it.

“I don’t believe that, because I see the Liberal Party still wanting to build new coal [mines], when we should clearly be transitioning to renewable energy to help save lives,” said the teenager. “Climate change is killing people, it’s causing so [many] natural disasters, we need to transition. And if you’re supporting the fossil fuel industry then you don’t truly care about the future generations.”

I know we’ve had a lot of Prime Ministers recently, but seriously, if this kid wants to take a shot at it, he’s got my vote.

Watch the whole exchange on Q&A below.