It is so good to be able to meet again.
Whether you've been a member for 20 years or 20 months or 20 days,
I want to thank you for everything you are doing to build our party and our movement.
Our voice has never been louder and it has never been more vital.
In the last 12 months we've seen a lot of changes for our party.
We've grown, and for the first time in our history we have become a party of government.
This time last year, I wasn't a government minister.
I wasn't even an MSP. was an engineer.
When I was elected, I was project manager, Orbital Marine Power
where I worked on the O2, the world's largest floating tidal turbine.
The fabrication, construction and deployment of that turbine didn't happen on its own.
It was the result of the hard work and expertise of dozens of people from all over Scotland.
We were brought together by one common goal.
We managed it. We did something amazing.
It was in the same spirit that I saw in abundance last
May when we secured the highest vote in history for our party.
You did that!
You secured a record number of Green MSPs and took the historic decision to take us into government.
[applause]
The cooperation agreement that you approved
was a big step forward for our party and for politics in Scotland.
It may have taken us out of our comfort zones,
but it put us right at the heart of big decisions.
It has been six months since Patrick and I became ministers, and what a busy six months it has been.
I had only been an MSP for a matter of weeks when the talks began,
but when I considered the urgency of the moment,
I knew that it was too important an opportunity to pass on.
I was proud of the manifesto I had been elected
on, and I wanted us to take the values and policies that ran through it
and turn them into real, tangible actions. And that is what we have done.
In my role as Minister for Green Skills, Biodiversity and Circular Economy,
I am supporting our woodlands, wildlife, rivers and seas
through our £65 million Nature Restoration Fund.
And overseeing the biggest investment in recycling for a generation.
I am introducing a world leading Deposit Return Scheme
and a ban on many of the worst and most damaging single use plastics
that pollute our oceans and litter our coasts.
It is a move that the public supports with a new poll
that we are publishing today showing that 75% of people support the ban.
It is a ban that is being introduced by Greens in government
and that will be delivered by Greens in government.
We are building a more equal Scotland.
Last week we introduced a bill into the Scottish Parliament
that will finally reform the Gender Recognition Act.
This will allow self-identification and finally remove
some of the bureaucracy and trauma from the existing system.
Trans rights are human rights.
I am proud that we are standing with our trans and non-binary siblings as they face
one of the most reactionary campaigns of misinformation I can remember.
We are working with the End Conversion Therapy Campaign and parliamentarians
from other parties to introduce a ban on so-called 'conversion therapy'.
'Conversion therapy' is abuse and it's time to end it for good.
[applause]
There's far more to come. We're just getting started.
We are doubling down on onshore wind capacity, introducing at least one
new national park, publishing a circular economy bill, delivering rent controls and so much more.
I am very proud of the cooperation agreement that we negotiated, but it is not a blueprint for government.
It is only a starting point.
After the election last summer, we had a brief window in opposition.
I can remember one of my first questions at First Minister's Questions.
I used it to draw attention to the national disgrace of companies
across Scotland destroying thousands of unsold items
every week, including computer equipment, books and even face masks.
Many of these items were brand new and perfectly usable,
but these companies thought it was better to destroy them
than to donate them to our schools or to people who would benefit.
I could see the injustice that was taking place, and I wanted to stop it.
Yesterday I was proud to announce that we are stopping this.
As part of the Circular Economy Bill I will take through Parliament
we will aim to ban the destruction of unsold goods.
That isn't something we could have done from the backbenches.
It is the difference between being in opposition and being in government.
It is the difference between calling for something to be done and being able to directly deliver it.
[applause]
It isn't easy. There are big challenges.
But the biggest challenges don't come from the Scottish Government or even the Parliament.
Many of them come from Westminster.
Boris Johnson and his colleagues don't want us to succeed.
Their government is the one that went to the High Court to block us from applying the UN Rights of a Child.
Their government is one that promotes austerity and cuts
while using the Internal Market Bill to hamper, delay and block progress.
They can't be trusted to do the right thing for people
or for planet They are cutting Universal Credit
while raising household bills and unleashing a cost of living crisis.
They are taking the rug out from under people
while leaving devolved governments to pick up the pieces.
They talk about levelling up Britain while implementing
a punishing Brexit that Scotland rejected.
They are talking tough about sanctions on Russia despite being bankrolled by oligarchs.
They are waving Ukrainian flags when they should be waiving visa restrictions.
[Applause]
This is not a government I want running Scotland.
We can do so much better than this.
We can be a democratic and independent nation
that uses its influence to champion human rights.
We can be a Scotland that sanctions the oligarchs
and seizes their super yachts rather than one run by a government
that rolls out the red carpet to them and grovels for their donations.
We can be a Scotland that works for peace, not one that arms human
rights abusing regimes and dictatorships like Saudi Arabia.
Right now, Saudi led forces are using UK made fighter
jets and bombs to inflict a humanitarian catastrophe in Yemen.
I want us to be a Scotland that leads on climate action.
We have 25% of all offshore renewable potential in Europe,
but we don't have the power to upgrade our own
electricity grid to accommodate those offshore renewables.
We don't have the power to lay offshore cables to export that energy.
When I was working as an engineer on the Orbital turbine,
I worked with people from Edinburgh, Dundee, Fife and Orkney.
It wasn't just a great feat of engineering it was a tribute
to the great skills that we have here in Scotland.
Just imagine the impact we could make if we made ten of those turbines, or a 100.
Imagine the jobs that could be created in the busy factories and shipyards.
Scotland's industry would boom and our planet would be the beneficiary.
We have the skills and technology to do things differently.
We are taking big steps, but we cannot realise our full potential
if we are tied to a Westminster government that is more concerned
with enriching its donors than it is with tackling the climate crisis.
We saw its total lack of leadership when it came to the COP conference.
Boris Johnson was telling the world about the dangers of climate change
while trying to increase oil exploration in Cambo.
COP was branded our last best chance.
But when push came to shove, far too many world leaders backed off.
They took what felt like an easy option.
Although it will make things harder for generations to come.
It is not a time for backing off.
If we had walked away from the chance to help
in shaping Scotland's government, Scotland's response to the crisis,
it might have been an easy option, but it wouldn't have been the right one.
As Greens, we are internationalists
and we will always be part of a global movement.
The last two years have emphasised how interdependent our lives are
and that none of us are safe until all of us are safe.
That applies to pandemics and climate change and nuclear war.
Across the world we are seeing Greens making a difference
whether it is in New Zealand, where Green politicians are helping to build
the wellbeing economy, or, as Patrick mentioned, in Germany,
where they have just achieved a record result and re-entered government.
I am proud of what our movement has done and I want us to build on it.
We can build a fairer, greener and independent Scotland that stands
proudly at the heart of Europe and offers safety and solidarity to refugees.
We can be the Scotland of Kenmure Street, not of Downing Street.
[applause]
We in Scotland want to stand in solidarity with the people of Ukraine.
We want to welcome those who need sanctuary into our homes.
But instead our doors have been slammed shut by the UK government
that is singularly failing to step up to its humanitarian responsibilities.
Every day of inaction will make a terrible situation worse.
My message to Boris Johnson and Priti Patel is to stop
putting paperwork and bureaucracy ahead of people's lives.
Stop putting it ahead of women and children
who are running terrified from the devastation of war.
Let them in. No excuses, no obstacles, no delays. Let them in now.
[applause]
I want us to be a country that offers safety and security to people that need
it. A Scotland that joins the world rather than one that abandons it.
A Scotland that leads our continent away as we move on from Putin and his fossil fuels.
A Scotland that values people, public services and the world around us.
That's the Scotland I want to build and is a Scotland that we are building together.
building together. Thank you.