The Morrison’s Government complete lack of engagement on health and climate change has left Australians at significant risk of illness and urgent national action is required to prevent harm and deaths, according to findings published in the Medical Journal of Australia.
Associate Professor Paul Beggs of Macquarie University’s Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences wrote, “As a direct result of this (Government’s) failure, we conclude that Australia remains at significant risk of declines in health due to climate change, and that substantial and sustained national action is urgently required in order to prevent this … This work is urgent.”
The Australian Medical Association has already formally declared climate change a health emergency this year pointing to “clear scientific evidence indicating severe impacts for our patients and communities now and into the future.”
Climate change and health challenges are intrinsically linked; the World Health Organisation has described climate change as “the defining health challenge of the 21st century.”
Australia’s health experts have already estimated that:
This is why Labor took to the election a plan to develop Australia’s first National Framework on Climate Change and Health.
Yet the Morrison Government remains committed to ignoring growing calls for real action on climate change. They have no plan to cut emissions, no plan to adapt to climate impacts and no plan to safeguard Australians health.