LAMBTON High School student Alexa Stuart addressed about 10,000 people at a Student Strike 4 Climate rally in Newcastle in September, but her message was for Scott Morrison.
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"Dear Prime Minister, are you listening?" said Ms Stuart only two weeks after more than 70 bushfires raged across Queensland and claimed 20 homes.
"Thousands here in Newcastle and over a million around the world have come to tell you, Mr Prime Minister, that no longer will we stand for your denial, no longer will we stand for your empty words, and no longer will we stand for your total inaction on the biggest threat humanity has ever faced," Ms Stuart said.
"The youth have risen, and we will not rest until you have listened."
Three months later the world watched, horrified, as Australia burned.
Swedish student Greta Thunberg's lone strike for climate action outside the Swedish Parliament has inspired students around the world to demand action to limit the damage of global warming after too many years of inaction by politicians.
Alexa Stuart's powerful speech in September contributed to her selection on Sunday as the City of Newcastle's Young Citizen of the Year, mayor Nuatali Nelmes said.
The teenager, who is about to start year 11, said she was "stoked" by the award because it recognised the significance of the student strike movement as the world negotiates this critical year, and the need for urgent action. It endorses the need for further student action, she said.
It is heartening to hear young voices challenging political leaders who have been forced to acknowledge climate change as a factor in these catastrophic fires, while doing their best to redirect attention. For all of Alexa Stuart's life Australia's political leaders have failed to come to terms with what science has been saying for years - that human-induced global warming will have devastating impacts on the planet.
The City of Newcastle, for one, has said it is time for voices like Alexa Stuart's to be heard. It is also heartening that young tennis player Ash Barty has won Young Australian of the Year. Barty is a champion, both on and off the court, who has risen to number one in the world with a refreshing lack of trash talk, tantrums and trauma, and as a proud young Indigenous Australian woman.
Issue: 39,513.
