Tribute to Sophie Trevitt

Today Abigail honoured the incredible advocacy of human rights lawyer Sophie Trevitt and paid tribute to the legacy that she leaves behind.

Abigail moved:

(1)That this House notes with sadness the passing of human rights lawyer, Sophie Jessica Trevitt, on 27 July 2023, at the age of 32 after a nine month battle with brain cancer.

(2)That this House notes that Ms Trevitt:

(a)was the recipient of the 2023 Liberty Victoria's Voltaire Human Rights Award for her work on raising the age of criminal responsibility;

(b)was well known and admired for her work campaigning to keep First Nations children out of prison;

(c)had roles including civil solicitor at the Northern Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency in Alice Springs, executive officer of the Change the Record campaign, Australian Capital Territory Co-Chair of Australian Lawyers for Human Rights, as well as roles within The Greens;

(d)authored "Homeward Bound - Social Security and Homelessness", a major project of the National Social Security Network and Canberra Community Law, which examined the experiences of people seeking legal assistance from Canberra Community Law on their Centrelink payments and the effect of Centrelink on their housing security; and

(e)was widely acknowledged and admired as a fearless social justice and climate campaigner who dedicated her life to making the world a better place.

(3)That this House acknowledges the profound impact that Sophie Trevitt's work has had on the lives of so many and passes on its deepest condolences to her family and friends.

Motion agreed to.

See Hansard for the full transcript.

TAX SUPERPROFITS TO PAY WORKERS MORE

NSW is missing out on tens of billions of dollars. By introducing a progressive coal royalty structure similar to the one in Queensland, we would have raised an extra $20 billion last year.

The NSW Government owns and controls, on behalf of the people of this state, the rights to the minerals and materials that naturally occur in NSW land.

Huge fossil fuel companies are only able to extract and sell these commodities with the consent of the State. It’s time they paid a fair price for that privilege.

The fossil fuel industry has made hundreds of billions of dollars out of their cosy relationship with governments. Granted permission to extract and sell coal, these large multinational fossil fuel corporations pay just over 7% in royalties back to the people of NSW – keeping the rest as mega-profits for themselves. These companies have a track record of taking more than their fair share and leaving communities suffering and stranded with poisoned groundwater, devastated landscapes and a stranded workforce when it suits their business models.

Globally, the hyper-inflation of fossil fuel prices driven by price-gouging opportunism and war profiteering from Putin’s invasion of Ukraine has delivered record windfall profits to these already obscenely wealthy corporations. In the last year, NSW coal exports totaled over $70 billion dollars, but the people of NSW will only see about 7 cents in every dollar, or about $6 billion dollars of that amount.

Rather than going toward schools, hospitals and public infrastructure, billions of dollars went into the pockets of multinational mining corporations. The Greens believe there should be more money for schools and hospitals and less for mining billionaires.

Sign our petition calling on the NSW Labor Government to increase coal royalties to invest in communities.

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Tribute to Sophie Trevitt

TAX SUPERPROFITS TO PAY WORKERS MORE

Sign our petition calling on the NSW Labor Government to increase coal royalties to invest in communities.

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