Richard Di Natale (Victoria, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate take note of the answer given by the Minister for Finance (Senator Cormann) to a question without notice asked by Senator Di Natale today relating to climate change.

Over the last few days, we've all watched in horror as bushfires have ravaged Tathra and south-west Victoria. In Tathra many people remain shut off from their home town for their own safety. Fires are still burning in Victoria's south-west, and we are all hoping that the wild winds die down and that these fires are brought under control.

My heart goes out to the people who are experiencing such great loss at this moment. The Australian Greens stand with them. We send out our thoughts and sympathies. We are all committed to working together to help them rebuild. We are all grateful for the efforts of emergency services who have worked tirelessly to get these fires under control. The great irony, of course, is that, in the midst of such adversity and such tragedy, we see people coming together. These tragedies bring out the best in people.

I live in rural Australia—in fact, not far from where the Victorian bushfires have been burning. My home's in a high-fire-danger area, the property's been burnt out before, and all around us throughout the landscape we see evidence of past fires. Every time I leave my home to come to this place, I leave behind my wife and my two young boys, and I know that our property, through the bushfire season, could be swept away at any time. In fact, that's the very experience of some of my neighbours who, during the Ash Wednesday fires, lost their homes and, tragically, lost family and friends. So many Australians live with this fear, and occasionally, devastatingly, our fears are realised.

Scientists are telling us that, as our climate changes, we're going to see more frequent and more severe bushfires over a much longer season. In fact, the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction just today highlighted the impact of the longer bushfire season. We know that our rural and regional communities are now living with an increased risk to their families, their homes, their communities, and their livelihoods.

The Prime Minister and, indeed, the Labor Party say we shouldn't be talking about climate change right now. But I say to them: if not now then when? I say that because I do care very deeply about my neighbours, my communities and the communities just like them right across rural Australia who have lost so much in recent days. We have a responsibility to them and the millions like them. To ignore the reality that there is an increased risk of bushfires as a result of unmitigated climate change is the insensitivity here. That is the indecency.

I've been speaking with many people who have been affected by this and other fires. They say to me, 'We know, because we live it every day, that there's a link between our changing climate and the risk of wildfire. We want you to call it out. We need you to call it out. We need our governments to take action.' They don't need the Bureau of Meteorology to confirm to them that 2017 was far hotter than average and that rainfall was below average in eastern Australia. They don't need the bureau to tell them that, because they live it. They live it every day. What they do need is a government that looks out for their interests. They need a government that has the courage to have a conversation about how we tackle global warming, because we need to reduce the risk and severity of these fires.

As a doctor I know you can't just treat the symptoms of an illness; you need to address the underlying causes if you want the patient to get better. We need our government to recognise this, too—to recognise that to treat the cause of these frequent and severe fires, storms, floods and droughts is important. It's critical. We can't just treat the symptoms. Instead of kicking the can down the road, making the future more dangerous for our children and grandchildren, we need to be taking action now. We need to shift away from the polluting coal that fuels global warming and shift to renewable energy. That's how we look after Australians—by making sure that we prevent climate change and ensuring that these communities remain livable.

Question agreed to.