Victoria's first Pasefika MP has used her inaugural speech to Parliament to appeal for an end to "performative politics" amid climate threats faced both at home, and for neighbouring island nations.
In her first address to the Legislative Council on Wednesday, the new member for Metro North Anasina Gray-Barberio urged politicians to work towards a collective solution while others face a potential future where their homes are "gone forever".
The Pacifeka-Samoan woman, raised in Melbourne suburb Broadmeadows, told the chamber "our islands are on the front line of the climate crisis".
"Our Pacific neighbours, from Kiribati, Tuvalu and Marshall Islands, will be among the first climate refugees," she said.
"Rising tides and environmental degradation are forcing them to migrate to countries that do not share their cultural history, endangering their cultural rights and potentially giving up their sovereignty.
"This displacement is not just a matter of survival for our people, it is a profound loss of identity and self determination as entire nations are pushed to the brink by the climate crisis.
"For some sitting in this chamber, this may feel like a distant problem, but for many in our region and here today the climate emergency is no longer a future crisis. It is a present reality that demands our immediate attention and action."
Ms Gray-Barberio said despite increased floods, droughts, bushfires and heatwaves in Australia, "urgent, bold action" remains to been taken.
"The thing I've come to understand about the climate emergency is that if one is profiting from the climate crisis, it is not in their interest to pursue climate justice," the Greens MP said.
"We need to move on from performative politics and work towards a collective solution, a collective solution that constrains global warming from surpassing the irreversible two degrees the point of no return."
Ahead of her inaugural speech, Ms Gray-Barberio was was joined by Pasefika community members in the corridors, who sang her into the chamber in cultural custom.
Earlier on Wednesday, she told National Indigenous Times her denied request for it to take place inside the doors was "incredibly disappointing".
Speaking that evening, the new member advocated for politics reflecting the population's diversity and multiculturalism.
"I urge you, it is not my community you need to be scared of," she said, "what you should be scared of is the fear you hold in your heart for communities that are not representative in this political institution".
"We have missed an opportunity to embrace what makes Victoria great, and that is our diversity in all its forms.
"I will not be the last to request for cultural rituals to be shared, but I do hope that for the next person representing a different part of our society, that this institution makes space for them and who they are.
"In my culture, our strength comes from community. I am here to share power with people, not over people. When we bring together voices and lived experiences from all walks of life, we are all powerful."
