Speaker 1: Already and this is the Daily This is the Daily OS.
Speaker 2: Oh, now it makes sense.
Speaker 3: Good morning and welcome to the Daily OS. It's Thursday,
Speaker 3: the thirteenth of February. I'm Zara, I'm Billy. This week
Speaker 3: an independent MP introduced a new bill, and that bill
Speaker 3: would require the government to consider the economic, social, environmental
Speaker 3: and cultural wellbeing of future generations when deciding national laws.
Speaker 3: It's just the latest in a broader push to consider
Speaker 3: the rights and well being of young people here in Australia.
Speaker 2: Now, this is a bill that is obviously specifically designed
Speaker 2: for young people in Australia, which is why when The
Speaker 2: Daily Oz posted it to our Instagram, there was a
Speaker 2: whole lot of interest about it. Yeah.
Speaker 3: The cross section of like a TDA audience caring about
Speaker 3: something and politics. This is where it happens.
Speaker 2: Yes, so do you want to just take us through
Speaker 2: first what exactactly is in this bill?
Speaker 3: Yeah? Absolutely, So. First of all, I just want to
Speaker 3: start by talking about who introduced the bill, and the
Speaker 3: reason I want to talk about that is because it
Speaker 3: makes quite a bit of a difference as to whether
Speaker 3: or not this bill will actually become law. So it
Speaker 3: was introduced by Independent MP doctor Sophie Scomps. She's the
Speaker 3: independent member for Mkeller, she's one of the teals. It
Speaker 3: is really important to flag that because of her role
Speaker 3: as an independent, it is highly unlikely that this bill
Speaker 3: will pass and become law. That said, don't lose me here.
Speaker 3: It is still a really interesting topic to discuss. And
Speaker 3: you know, pieces of legislation are introduced all the time
Speaker 3: as private member's bill and it prompts conversation both in
Speaker 3: Parliament and broader Australian community as to the contents of
Speaker 3: that bill. So I think definitely worth talking through.
Speaker 2: So just to be clear, we're saying it's very unlikely
Speaker 2: that this legislation will go through, but it's the idea
Speaker 2: behind this bill that is a broader discussion in politics,
Speaker 2: which is what we want to talk about today.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and so I'll go through what to actually in
Speaker 3: the legislations. So under the proposal, there would be a
Speaker 3: positive duty for the government and other public bodies to
Speaker 3: consider the well being of future generations. Now decision makers,
Speaker 3: so politicians, bureaucrats whoever, would be legally bound to consider
Speaker 3: the well being of younger people when they were drafting
Speaker 3: laws and policies. They'd also need to release their well
Speaker 3: being objectives and to report on their progress every six months.
Speaker 3: This whole process of protecting the well being of future generations,
Speaker 3: this would be overseen by a Future Generations Commissioner and
Speaker 3: that person would be appointed through a competitive panel selection if,
Speaker 3: of course, this bill were to come into force.
Speaker 2: That phrase, or positive duty, is a phrase that we've
Speaker 2: seen across a lot of different legislation. We've seen it
Speaker 2: on legislation about workplaces and it's basically just about taking
Speaker 2: proactive action rather than.
Speaker 3: Reactive reaction exactly.
Speaker 2: Okay, so you mentioned the commissioner. Now that will be
Speaker 2: a new role.
Speaker 3: Right, Yeah, so we don't currently have that role. We do,
Speaker 3: you have advocates for children and young people at statain
Speaker 3: territory levels, but not this position explicitly. So the key
Speaker 3: responsibility of this Commissioner would be to advocate for the
Speaker 3: long term interests of Australia and current and future generations.
Speaker 3: It would also oversee what it called a national conversation
Speaker 3: public forum, and it would invite young people, first nations,
Speaker 3: people and people with disabilities to partake in this forum.
Speaker 3: After that process took place, the Commissioner would then be
Speaker 3: tasked with publishing a report observing what they would see
Speaker 3: as the medium and long term trends, risks and opportunities
Speaker 3: that could impact the future well being of Australians.
Speaker 2: And so what was the reasoning behind why doctor Scomps
Speaker 2: introduced this legislation.
Speaker 3: Well, essentially, she's arguing that there is a problem in
Speaker 3: Australia with short sightedness when it comes to policymakings. So
Speaker 3: here in Australia we go to a federal election every
Speaker 3: three years, and what she's saying is that that's led
Speaker 3: to futile policy solutions to some of the country's biggest problems.
Speaker 3: So when we're talking about this bill and the policies
Speaker 3: that it would affect, think about things like the housing crisis,
Speaker 3: like climate change, these kind of really big, multi generational
Speaker 3: ideas and issues that aren't going to be solved in
Speaker 3: a day. They're going to take that long term thinking.
Speaker 3: And what doctor Scomps is saying is that we don't
Speaker 3: have that long term thinking currently. We're not thinking about
Speaker 3: the future generations. When, for example, the government or the
Speaker 3: opposition is coming up with its policy on housing ahead
Speaker 3: of the next election. Now obviously the government would disagree
Speaker 3: with that they would suggest that, you know, they are
Speaker 3: thinking ahead when it comes to creating and designing this policy.
Speaker 3: But we'll get to that in a moment. I want
Speaker 3: to just go back to what doctor Scomp said was
Speaker 3: her justification. She said Australians want long term solutions, and
Speaker 3: she was citing research from Griffith University that said that
Speaker 3: nearly all Australians, so ninety seven percent of those who responded,
Speaker 3: support policies that take future generations into account. She said,
Speaker 3: they want pollies to think beyond their own re election
Speaker 3: prospects every thirty years and to put some serious effort
Speaker 3: into turning the ship around for future generations.
Speaker 2: You know you're a politics nord when you refer to
Speaker 2: them as.
Speaker 3: Honestly, I'm surprised that you let me do that. I
Speaker 3: was just trying to shorten the sentience.
Speaker 2: Okay, so I think I understand the policy, but I
Speaker 2: wanted to turn to the actual politics of a bill
Speaker 2: like this, which you briefly touched on before. Yeah, because
Speaker 2: as we said at the top, it is unlikely to
Speaker 2: pass yes.
Speaker 3: So any bill that's introduced to Parliament by a non
Speaker 3: government politician is called a private member's bill. So you
Speaker 3: know Sophie Scomp's is an independent member and so she
Speaker 3: introduced this piece of legislation as a private member's bill
Speaker 3: into the Parliament. For this piece of legislation to pass,
Speaker 3: to become law, to become you know what we have
Speaker 3: here in Australia, it would need the support of the
Speaker 3: government and also other people on the cross bench in
Speaker 3: order to pass. And getting that sort of support when
Speaker 3: you don't come from inside the government but instead outside,
Speaker 3: that's really really rare. And the only time that that
Speaker 3: really happens is when the government doesn't have a majority,
Speaker 3: and so we obviously have to go to the government
Speaker 3: then and try to understand what they think about this.
Speaker 3: Is this something that they would support. Prime Minister Anthony
Speaker 3: Abernezi did say earlier this week that he would have
Speaker 3: a look at the ideas in the legislation, but they
Speaker 3: have ruled out on a number of occasions supporting this
Speaker 3: sort of legislation. I do want to add really quickly though,
Speaker 3: that the bill was backed by Liberal MP Bridget Archer.
Speaker 3: Now she is a moderate Liberal who has crossed the
Speaker 3: floor on a couple of occasions, so she's voted against
Speaker 3: her party. This doesn't really change the success or the
Speaker 3: possible success of this bill. But I do think it's
Speaker 3: interesting to look at this kind of cross party or
Speaker 3: independent liberal coalition that has emerged on this issue.
Speaker 2: And just before we finished, some people might be listening
Speaker 2: to this episode and thinking they've heard a cinema. Yeah,
Speaker 2: thinking that they have heard us explain a similar or
Speaker 2: proposed legislation before. Yeah, because there was one that was
Speaker 2: specific about climate change that was called the Duty of
Speaker 2: Care campaign. Yeah. Do you want to take us through that?
Speaker 3: Yes? So that campaign was run by and Shama, a
Speaker 3: young person who I believe we've had on this podcast before,
Speaker 3: and she was, as you said, running this duty of
Speaker 3: Care campaign that essentially, if it had been successful, would
Speaker 3: have meant that the government had to protect the next
Speaker 3: generation with this duty of care when it came to
Speaker 3: climate change policy specifically. Now, the government did reject that proposal.
Speaker 3: It went to a Senate committee which was chaired by
Speaker 3: a Labor member, which suggested the bill was too broad,
Speaker 3: there would be too many difficulties in protecting areas like
Speaker 3: health and cultural and spiritual wellbeing, and so with that
Speaker 3: lack of definition, there wasn't support for that. But Billy,
Speaker 3: you have asked on a number of occasions to a
Speaker 3: number of politicians this very question of why they don't
Speaker 3: support something like this, why there isn't something explicit in
Speaker 3: our national Parliament to protect future generations. Can you talk
Speaker 3: me through what we've heard from the government on this topic.
Speaker 2: Yeah, So over the past couple of years, I've spoken
Speaker 2: to the Youth Minister Ann Ali and also the Climate
Speaker 2: Change Minister Chris Bowen about this, and to be honest,
Speaker 2: they haven't really said a whole lot. But what they
Speaker 2: did say was consistent with each other, which is that
Speaker 2: the government does consider future generations when it's making decisions
Speaker 2: about its policies and its legislation. But what they are
Speaker 2: against is making it a legal requirement for them to
Speaker 2: consider future generations. So they say they're already doing it,
Speaker 2: but we don't need this to become law. And the
Speaker 2: other thing that they said is that whilst they do
Speaker 2: consider future generations, it's also really important to consider the
Speaker 2: needs of today, and so it's a constant balancing act
Speaker 2: between the two of them.
Speaker 3: I mean, I think, just to close this conversation, when
Speaker 3: you asked Anthony Albinezi a couple of weeks ago what
Speaker 3: he thought the big issue facing young Australians was he
Speaker 3: did answer intergenerational inequality, so I know, and.
Speaker 2: It didn't come to me at the time to bring
Speaker 2: this up, and I wish it did well.
Speaker 3: The Prime Minister will just have to return and I'm
Speaker 3: real hymn fair that Billy. Thank you so much and
Speaker 3: thank you for joining us for another episode of The
Speaker 3: Daily os.
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Speaker 2: be back this evening with your afternoon headlines.
Speaker 1: My name is Lily Maddon and I'm a proud Arunda
Speaker 1: Bungelung Kalkutin woman from Gadighl Country. The Daily oz acknowledges
Speaker 1: that this podcast is recorded on the lands of the
Speaker 1: Gadighl people and pays respect to all Aboriginal and Torres
Speaker 1: Strait Island and nations. We pay our respects to the
Speaker 1: first peoples of these countries, both past and present.