Harkin said it would make no difference if the Commonwealth pursued the Greens’ policy of a 75 per cent reduction in emissions by 2030 because developing nations such as China and India were burning fossil fuels at increasing rates.
“Even if we went down that path, we make zero contribution to the end result,” she said.
Climate activist Anjali Sharma.Credit:Luis Enrique Ascui
In a written statement on Tuesday, Harkin said: “I accept my language was clumsy; the point I was seeking to make was that we should be teaching our children hope, not fear.”
The former staffer who holds a master’s degree in education also told the forum that she held the same concerns about fairness in women’s sports as Deves, who is running in former prime minister Tony Abbott’s old seat of Warringah against independent Zali Steggall.
“She’s been working on the protection of women in sport for years,” Harkin said of Deves. “The challenge with this stuff is that it’s difficult for everybody and to pretend it’s not sensitive and delicate would be a lie.”
“But there are things that have to be addressed. Women in sport for example. We’ve got situations where someone has dedicated their entire life to being the best swimmer in the world and at two minutes to midnight, somebody who has transitioned who’s six foot four with shoulders this wide and feet this big can enter a female swimming race.”
Harkin went on to criticise some gender-neutral language, saying, “If you show me someone who chestfeeds a baby, I’ll show you a hungry baby”.
Incumbent Labor MP Josh Burns said Harkin , who lives in the neighbouring electorate of Goldstein and was preselected just ahead of the campaign after the original candidate resigned in March,was “parachuted” into the seat by the prime minister, but her views were “completely out of touch”.
Josh Burns (right) with Father Bob Maguire and Anthony Albanese this month.Credit:Alec Ellinghausen
“Scott Morrison’s candidate for Macnamara, just like his candidates for Warringah, Flynn, Cooper and Bennelong, are a worrying sign of how out of touch his Liberal Party has become and the constituents of Macnamara, Goldstein, Higgins and Kooyong should send the prime minister a message on election day,” he said in a written statement.
Greens candidate for Macnamara Steph Hodgins-May, who believes she can win the seat from Labor, said Harkin’s statements were “deliberately hurtful to trans people” and argued that the Liberals’ comparison to abuse of children “insulted survivors of traumatic violence and sexual assault”.
Cut through the noise of the federal election campaign with news, views and expert analysis from Jacqueline Maley. Sign up to our Australia Votes 2022 newsletter here.
Lib hopeful backs Deves and says climate emergency warnings border on child abuse
Source: Philippines Alive
