Rachel Siewert (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In the wake of a year marked by bushfires and coronavirus, the impact of the climate emergency on our health has never been more critical or more in our face. The World Health Organization has declared that climate change is the greatest threat to human health this century. The Bureau of Meteorology has confirmed that, under current global pledges, Australia will experience warming effects of 3.4 to 4.4 degrees by the end of the century. This would fundamentally alter our very way of life.

The risks posed to our health by climate change are getting worse every year. As global temperatures rise, extreme weather events like bushfires, droughts, cyclones and floods are becoming more frequent and severe. This is putting lives, health and the wellbeing of the entire world population at risk. We are already seeing the increasing effects of air pollution and the threats to food and water supply and security. Climate change is contributing to an increased risk of infectious diseases, cardiovascular disease, respiratory disease, asthma, allergies, mental ill health, psychosocial impacts, violence, poor nutrition, injury, poisoning and mortality. Climate change is also worsening the conditions that led to the COVID-19 pandemic, with environmental degradation and habitat loss responsible for the increased risks of zoonotic diseases like coronavirus.

In the absence of action, climate change is predicted to lead to 85 deaths per 100,000 people per year globally by the end of the century, more than are currently killed by all infectious diseases across the globe. The MJA-Lancet Countdown report released today highlighted that the 2019-20 bushfires resulted in about 450 deaths due to direct injury and air pollution exposure. The air pollution was so severe that it made the New South Wales annual average PM2.5 concentration the highest by far in the past 20 years. Climate change also poses the serious risk of disruption to our healthcare supply chain, damage to our health infrastructure and threats to the safety and quality of health care provided. On our current trajectory, if it continues unchecked, we face threats to humanity.

While we have devoted much of 2020 to solving the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change continues. We need to apply the same level of focus, intervention and concentration on climate change as we have done, rightly, on coronavirus. Australia's peak body of climate and health, the Climate and Health Alliance, recently released a policy road map for a 'healthy, regenerative and just' future. This road map has been endorsed by 29 leading health groups so far, including the Public Health Association of Australia, the Consumers Health Forum of Australia and the Australian College of Nursing. Health organisations are recognising this climate emergency. They are doing the work and, quite frankly, the government should be doing much more in this space. We need a comprehensive, nationally coordinated response to climate change, putting health at its core.

Right now we have the opportunity to protect our health from the devastating impacts of climate change, but we don't have any time to waste. We need to adjust our climate targets to net zero emissions by 2035 at the very latest. Otherwise, it is going to be too late and we are going to suffer these consequences. We need to end fossil fuel use for good. This includes no new coal, oil or gas. We need massive investment in renewables in this country so that we can run on 100 per cent renewable energy. It's time to apply the same level of urgency to tackling this crisis as we have done to the COVID-19 pandemic. We need to make sure that we are integrating climate across portfolio areas, and we need to make sure we are addressing climate change from a health lens as well. (Time expired)