1. What use will be made of citizens assemblies to tackle issues relating to the climate change emergency declared by the Welsh Government? OAQ54463

Llywydd, amplifying the voice of citizens has been a policy over the 20 years of devolution. I recently met again with Citizens Cymru, one of the largest citizen-based bodies in Wales. Extinction Rebellion will lead a workshop on the role of citizens assemblies at next week's Welsh Government climate change conference. 

That is very welcome news indeed, First Minister. The First Minister will have noted that, only just over a week ago, I and several Assembly colleagues sponsored an event in the Senedd that brought together activists and campaigners, local authorities and other organisations, and members of the public, to focus minds and ideas on the climate emergency, but also the biodiversity emergency we face. And, this week again, today, in fact, we see protests right across the world, urging Governments to take the necessary urgent actions to respond to the clear evidence that we as individuals, as communities, as nations and governments, and internationally, need to do more, much more, to address the climate and biodiversity emergencies. 

So, could our Welsh Government continue to work with others to establish citizens assemblies as a way to help us, us politicians, find a way forward with the urgency we truly need, and to work on this with those climate change activists and campaigners, as well as, crucially, the wider public? And, First Minister, in trying to work with others, including the campaigners, and many young people, including those who've been inspired by Greta Thunberg, what does he make of those who'd refer to such campaigners as 'nose-ringed, unco-operative, climate change crusties in their hemp-smelling bivouacs'? 

Well, Llywydd, can I begin by congratulating Huw Irranca-Davies and those other Assembly Members who were involved in organising the event to which he referred, and particularly for the breadth of participation they achieved in bringing people together here at the Assembly? And of course the Welsh Government is keen to go on working with that wide range of citizens beyond the Assembly itself who have such a committed interest in climate change and making sure that, here in Wales, we are able to take the actions that fall to us in our time in order to respond to it. 

Next week's climate change conference will be a real opportunity to do that. As well as the workshops run by Extinction Rebellion, there is a specific strand for young people, who've made an enormous contribution to making sure that this matter is kept in the public eye, and who are part of the action to which Huw Irranca-Davies referred that is going on across the United Kingdom, and more broadly, today. 

We ought to welcome the fact that so many of our fellow citizens are so committed that they leave their own homes and take part in those protest actions, that they demonstrate their commitment in that practical way. Those people are to be congratulated and respected, not to be the target of the sort of language that Huw quoted. We look forward in Wales to go on having a purposeful relationship with all of those who want to make a contribution to tackling that major challenge of our time, to do it through citizens assemblies, but in many other ways as well, including our own Youth Parliament, and to draw people together to make that difference, rather than attempting to create division and to pretend that people who have a different point of view and want to make a different sort of contribution don't have the value that we know they do. 

Of course, the simple answer that you could have given to the latter part of the Member's question was that we need a general election, First Minister, and your party's stopping that happening. But, on the principal question of people's assemblies, surely what we need to be looking at is how we can take along with us community councils and county councils here in Wales, many of whom have passed motions supporting the declaration of a climate change emergency, but really do feel that, sometimes, they are not part of the process, especially at community and town council level. What work has the Welsh Government undertaken with colleagues in town and community councils, so that, where these resolutions are passed, they are fed into the network of advice and support that is given to communities over the change that they can make in their communities to play their part in reducing our carbon footprint?

Well, Llywydd, let me welcome the fact that so many principal councils, and town and community councils, have passed resolutions here in Wales, declaring their own intention to be part of the solution to the climate change emergency that we face. And I want to put on record my appreciation of the work that the best of our town and community councils do, right across Wales. Where we have town and community councils that have ambition, where they want to make the extra contribution that we know they can, we've got really successful examples in parts of Wales where those contributions make a difference. That's why we set up the group, chaired by Rhodri Glyn Thomas and Gwenda Thomas, earlier in this Assembly term, to make sure that the work that is done by the best of our town and community councils becomes more typical of the sector as a whole. As a result, we have worked closely with them. I myself have addressed their general meeting twice during this Assembly term, and my colleague Julie James has met with the sector again recently. We want to capture the commitment that town and community councils and their members make in Wales, because they have a genuine contribution that they can make to the decarbonisation and climate change agendas. We look forward to being able to work with them positively in the future.

There’s no doubt, of course, that Extinction Rebellion and the school strikers have transformed the narrative around the climate emergency that we’re currently facing. And I agree with you entirely that we should congratulate and support those people for their efforts. But, of course, Plaid Cymru did table a motion here a fortnight ago doing exactly that in the context of the school strikers, and, unfortunately, your party voted against our motion, and amended it to such an extent that it became a meaningless statement. Do you regret doing that now?

Well, what we did on the Assembly floor was acknowledge the fact that there is more than one way in which people can work in this field and that there is more than one contribution available to supporters in dealing with the crisis we face. We do acknowledge the fact that young people have blazed a trail on this. But there are many other contributions that people can make, and that is why we as a party tabled the amendments, and those amendments were supported by the National Assembly.