Minister for the Environment and Water Visits Trinity

On Tuesday 22 October, Trinity College was delighted to host the Hon Tanya Plibersek, Minister for the Environment and Water as well as Matt Burnell MP, Member for Spence for a student question and answer forum. 

Students were able to ask questions of the Minister about her work, and the Minister was able to listen to the interests and concerns of a good sample of young people from our community.

The Minister was open and engaging and took questions regarding politics, women in leadership, education and environmental issues.  Just some of the questions from students included

• What are your views regarding the responsibility of government to find a balance between supporting potentially harmful environmental practices such as fossil fuel use and mining, compared with the need to be environmentally responsible?
• What is the current balance or imbalance between renewable and non-renewable energy generation across Australia and can you discuss if and why the government might be continuing to support new non-renewable energy projects?
• As a female leader can you describe what barriers or challenges women face when attempting to enter politics and particularly once they’ve been elected?

Head of Trinity College, Nick Hately said “As a College we feel our students gained a great deal from the visit and the students certainly came away more informed about the political process and environmental issues.” 

Before she departed Minister Plibersek commented how impressed she was with Trinity, particularly to our commitment to broad enrolment, sustainability and high quality.