Fire and fury: new senators speak out

Incoming senators, independent David Pocock and the Greens’ David Shoebridge, have issued grim warnings on climate and pledged to change the way politics is conducted.

Independent ACT senator David Pocock. Picture: AAP

Incoming senators, independent David Pocock and the Greens’ David Shoebridge, have issued grim warnings on climate and pledged to change the way politics is conducted in their inaugural parliamentary speeches on Tuesday night.

ACT Senator Pocock said the Earth was on the “brink of collapse” amid rising frequency and severity of extreme weather events. Elected on a platform of climate and integrity, he said he was committed to doing everything in his power to reverse the “catastrophic” decline of the environment.

“Today the systems that sustain life on Earth are at the brink of collapse,” he said. “The climate as we know it is breaking down … drought, bushfires, hailstorms and floods are having a devastating effect on the people and places we love.

“We are also seeing the impacts on the state of the environment. The sixth mass extinction event is under way. The last one, 66 million years ago, was due to a massive asteroid. This time we’re causing it.”

Senator Pocock rejected the term “kingmaker”, in reference to his balance-of-power Senate position, and pledged to work collaboratively with both major parties and the crossbench.

He reiterated his advocacy to change the Andrews bill, which prevents territories being able to legislate voluntary assisted dying, and said he would fight for Canberrans.

Senator Shoebridge called for a new criminal offence for “ecocide”, arguing that people who wilfully destroy the environment must be punished. The former barrister also said he would push for increased public accountability, referring to NSW politics as a “masterclass in scandal, corruption and abuse of power”.

“Ecocide is the mass, widespread damage and destruction of ecosystems and nature. It is, or at least should be, criminal where it is done by corporations or governments intentionally or recklessly,” he said.

“So instead of a short-lived Twitter backlash and a revolving door taking you from politics into a six-figure consultancy, if you gladhand a fossil fuel project that screws our collective future you get 20 years in jail. That sounds more fair to me.”