Grandmother dumps burnt remains of home at Parliament House in climate change protest

Grandmother dumps burnt remains of home at Parliament House in climate change protest

A woman has brought the charred remains of her bushfire-ravaged home to Parliament House in Canberra, accusing both major political parties of failing to act on climate change.

Key points: Melinda Plesman says there is a lack of leadership on climate change on both sides of Parliament

She says bushfire victims need more than the Prime Minister's prayers

Ms Plesman wants a bipartisan approach to addressing climate change

Melinda Plesman and her partner Dean Kennedy lost their family home of 38 years when bushfires tore through Nymboida, south of Grafton in NSW, early last month.

On Monday she took part in a Greenpeace demonstration calling for action from Australia's leaders.

The grandmother brought fire-blackened items salvaged from her burnt her home to Canberra to show Prime Minister Scott Morrison what she said was the direct result of climate change.

Ms Plesman, who is now living in a Grafton hotel, said she was furious when Mr Morrison offered prayers for victims.

"I lost my house, I lost my way of life — my whole community has — and while that was happening, the PM said that he didn't want us to talk about climate change, that this wasn't the time," she said.

"We weren't allowed to mention climate change and then [Mr Morrison] said that he was praying for us.

"I got really upset and really angry because I just felt that we needed a hell of a lot more than that.

"I don't want prayers, I don't want glib comments about the cricket. I want something to be done and I want it to be done now."

Ms Plesman also took aim at Labor during her demonstration on Monday morning.

"We've got no leadership, we've got no discussion, we've got no debate, we've got nothing," she said.

"I completely understand that the Labor Party are absent in this as well."

Ms Plesman said she did not know what the future held for her.

She called on Mr Morrison to set a price on carbon, phase out native forest logging, immediately shift Australia towards renewable energy and stop mining coal.

"I think it's the job of the Prime Minister to bring us together and lead us forward," she said.

"That's his job. He's not acting."

Topics: bushfire, fires, disasters-and-accidents, demonstration, climate-change, environment, government-and-politics, political-parties, liberals, liberal-national-party, alp, canberra-2600, act, australia, nymboida-2460, nsw