Robert Oakeshott (Lyne, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. With a reported 1,000 homes at risk from coastal erosion at Old Bar in the Manning Valley, can the Prime Minister provide a status report on government’s response to the tripartisan and seminal report delivered last year by the Standing Committee on Climate Change, Water, Environment and the Arts, chaired by the member for Throsby, and provide a reassurance that with recent changes to ministerial responsibilities this issue has not been lost in the rising sea of political challenges that the environment portfolio has faced in recent months?

Kevin Rudd (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Lyne for his question. Since the release of the House committee report the government has sought to work actively on these questions. In November last year the government, through Minister Wong, released the first national assessment of the implications of climate change for Australia’s coasts. That report was entitled Climate change risks to Australia’s coasts. It was the first attempt at continent-wide mapping of the risks posed to residential buildings as a consequence of climate change. The report also went to the challenge that this sort of coastal erosion would present to infrastructure, services and industry. We all know that a number of our road networks hug the coast very closely.

The honourable member also asked a question about further action by the government on this matter. What we have done is create a Coasts and Climate Change Council, to be chaired by Professor Tim Flannery. It is designed to engage with the community and local stakeholders in the lead-up to what will be an important climate change and coastal impact forum which is to be held.

Can I also say in response to the honourable member’s question that we take seriously this challenge for the future, as we do the overall challenge of climate change. The government has released a comprehensive adaptation policy that identifies the role of the federal government in adapting to climate change. It identifies the following priorities: how we deal with natural systems of national significance; how we deal with prevention, preparedness and response, particularly with regard to natural disasters impacting on a weakened coastline; and the impact on agriculture, water and more broadly on coastal management.

The member should be assured that the government takes this challenge as one of the adaptation implications flowing from climate change very seriously. It potentially affects residences right across Australia. It potentially affects a whole range of infrastructure projects and existing infrastructure right around the country. Therefore the government will have further to say on our action for further preparedness in this area.

This is one of the costs of climate change. It is not unique to Australia. If we go to other countries around the world we see them wrestling with the impact on their coastlines caused by the change in the climate and by the increasing level of the sea. We know in particular of our near neighbours in the Pacific and the impact that it potentially has on the very survival of a number of island states, such as Kiribati, Tuvalu and elsewhere. So, while this is a challenge for Australia, it is also a challenge for the region and the world. The government will continue to discharge its responsibilities in this area.