QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE: TAKE NOTE OF ANSWERS

Senator HODGINS-MAY (Victoria) (16:54): I rise to take note of the Minister for Early Childhood Education's answers to my questions. The minister spoke about the government's leadership in education, but that leadership does not seem to extend to ensuring Australian children are receiving evidence based resources about climate change. Fossil fuel companies are literally embedding themselves in schools, early learning centres, museums and community organisations, seeking to shape how their role in the climate crisis is understood by the very generation that will have to live through it.

You can't make this stuff up. We would never let Sportsbet teach financial literacy—although God only knows in this place! We would never—I hope—let Philip Morris write the health curriculum.

So why are we letting fossil fuel corporations teach children about climate change? They are not there to educate; they are there to protect and to build their social licence. My message to these companies is simple: get out of our classrooms, get out of our communities.

Our children are not your advertising space. Santos' community grants ask applicants, 'Does this program create awareness and positivity for the Santos brand and recognise Santos' support?' That is not philanthropy; that is PR spin. Through Woodside's sponsorship of the Nippers, children become walking billboards for a fossil fuel company seeking to industrialise Scott Reef.

Some uniforms carry Woodside's logo; at the last count, we saw six Woodside logos on one uniform. A child turns up to learn about water safety to build confidence and serve their community, but instead they become part of the fossil fuel companies' marketing strategy. Our children are not their advertising space.

To the government: do not let our children be that advertising space. These corporations are going to do whatever they can to make profits, to conserve their social licence and to stop paying taxes, but it's up to you to stop them. That is the role of government.

Woodside does not get to seek public goodwill through children's sport while arguing against measures like a gas export tax that would ensure Australians receive a fair return from our resources. The minister accused me of manufacturing outrage. Parents do not need to manufacture outrage on this, I assure you; they will do that themselves when their child comes home with fossil fuel funded teaching materials.

There has to be a hard line, and our children are that hard line. (Time expired) Question agreed to.