As Prime Minister Anthony Albanese toured flood-affected parts of South Australia, he managed to catch a little ray of sunshine.
He met six-month old Mia Roper in Renmark, a town along the border with Victoria, which is bracing for a surge of water.
Mia’s mum and dad, Kyla Raby and Dan Roper, were passing through the town on their way back home to Adelaide after a holiday.
“It was very special for us (to meet the Prime Minister). Mia was born on election day,” Ms Raby said.
It means Mia has only known a Labor government in Canberra, a cause for celebration for her parents as they hold fears for their daughter’s future in a world impacted by climate change.
Labor went to the election promising stronger action on climate change and so far has legislated a 43 per cent carbon emissions reduction target by 2050 amid lingering criticism the target doesn’t go far enough.
“We’ve always been people who care about the planet, but having a child it does make you realise that they’re going to inherent our generation’s mistakes,” Ms Raby said.
The record flooding the nation is suffering has put climate change in the political spotlight, with calls to drastically reduce Australia’s world-leading contributions to global warming.
‘Lovely conversation’
Ms Raby said she and her husband, both Greens members, had feared the Morrison government would continue to delay action on climate change.
“The Coalition government had become a bit of a laughingstock … even denying there was an issue,” Mr Roper said.
“You want to make sure you’re not the generation that stuffs it up for everyone.”
The doting parents said Mr Albanese approached them and asked to hold Mia and was “rapt” when he learned the baby was born the day he won office.
“It was a very lovely conversation, just parents talking to each other about kids’ stuff,” Ms Raby said.
The Prime Minister was enjoying his time with Mia so much that Mr Roper questioned if he’d get his daughter back.
“It was really good to meet him and see how much of a down-to-earth, regular guy he was,” Mr Roper said.
-AAP
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