In a joint statement, 38 former Australian fire and emergency service chiefs said they are “deeply concerned about the trend of worsening extreme weather disasters, fuelled by climate change”.

Advertise with News of The Area today.
It’s worth it for your business.
Message us.
Phone us – (02) 4981 8882.
Email us – media@newsofthearea.com.au

“Many Australians are increasingly being impacted by consecutive, compounding climate disasters including heatwaves, drought, fires, storms and floods, leaving little time for recovery,” they said.

Former Commissioner of Fire and Rescue NSW and founder of Emergency Leaders for Climate Action, Greg Mullins said, “In my decades of service in NSW I never had to deal with a tropical cyclone reaching so far south. “This is deeply disturbing and something climate scientists had warned us about.

“As we head to a federal election it reinforces why Australians simply can’t afford to go backwards on climate action.”

Few Australians will be untouched by Alfred.

The Federal Treasurer Dr Jim Chalmers, has warned that the cyclone will affect the Federal Budget by $1.2 billion, and that inflation will be affected by damage to food producing areas.

Other effects may not be as evident.

David Crosbie, CEO of the independent charity Community Council for Australia, said one of the remarkable things about Alfred was the slow-motion unfolding of havoc and the prolonged rekindling of trauma from not-so-long-ago disasters.

“There was a sense of ‘we are all in this together’, there was a collective goal to see each other through, to keep people safe, and to restore lives and communities,” he said.

“And, there was urgency.”

Mr Crosbie said the same sense of urgency is not being attached to investing in the community’s capacity to prepare, respond, recover and adapt to future disasters and climate change.

“A lot of what we do seems to involve wishful thinking about communities coming together.

“Why aren’t we investing more in supporting community-building infrastructure?

“When we are focused on the experience of people and community, we begin talking less about the science, the forecasts and the responses in big amorphous terms, and more about what they mean for our everyday lives and our local community.

“It’s no accident that those who seek to undermine climate action by dividing communities are very good at this. “They talk about local jobs, power lines, your power bill and the intrusion of windfarms on the local countryside.

“They divide communities by working from the ground up.”

Mr Crosbie said that until people discuss the impacts of climate change and the opportunities for energy transition in the same conversations they have about their communities and children, there will be a disconnect.

President of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) Dr Michael Wright, is urging leaders to fully fund the implementation of the National Health and Climate Strategy.

“Cyclone Alfred has severely impacted Queensland and NSW communities, and my heart is with everyone affected, including all our GPs caring for patients after the storm,” he said.

“The RACGP recognises climate change as a global public health emergency.”

Dr Wright said GPs have been seeing the social, emotional and physical impacts experienced by those in the path of extreme weather for some time.

“Year after year Australian communities have been subjected to the damaging and traumatic effects of fires, floods, droughts and storms, which are becoming more frequent and severe due to climate change.”

RACGP Climate and Environmental Medicine Specific Interests Chair Dr Catherine Pendrey said, “The World Health Organisation (WHO) has called climate change the greatest threat to public health in the 21st century.

“Extreme weather events like Cyclone Alfred cause more injuries, diseases and deaths.

“We can and must stop emitting fossil fuel pollution to safeguard the health of our future generations in the face of the worsening climate crisis.”

By Andrew VIVIAN