Page 1183 - Week 04 - Tuesday, 2 April 2019
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In particular we need to be looking at the increasing threat from bushfires. A Climate Council report in 2016 found that the direct effects of a three to four degree temperature increase in the ACT—and we are currently on track for at least that—could more than double fire frequency and increase fire intensity by 20 per cent. The report found that the economic cost of bushfires in New South Wales and the ACT in 2016 was approximately $100 million. These costs are projected to more than double by 2050.
As the fire seasons grow longer, the usual off-season between the dangerous fire periods is disappearing. This means that firefighters have less time for all their tasks, including hazard reduction burning, and the opportunity for firefighters, including volunteer firefighters, to have some kind of rest is diminishing. This means that firefighting land management is under a lot of pressure. It will need greater efforts and greater ingenuity. It will need more resources. We need to plan new estates and new infrastructure with bushfire resilience in mind.
I also want to mention the urban heat island effect and the need for more shading and cooling infrastructure. The urban heat island effect happens when things like pavements, roads and buildings, concrete in particular, absorb the heat of the sun and radiate it back. This increases temperatures. Members may have seen a CSIRO study that my colleague Mr Rattenbury released. It showed vast differences in temperature, up to 10 degrees on a hot day, between areas of Canberra that are well shaded and parts that are not.
The solution to this is to increase canopy cover in the ACT. We need more trees and other living infrastructure. We need to reverse the decline in trees and plant many more, and they need to be appropriate species for the changing climate so that they can produce shade to cool the city and its inhabitants. In areas that are denser, like town and group centres, we need to make more appropriate microclimates. They cannot just be concrete and bitumen jungles. There is plenty of room to incorporate trees, green space, water features and other innovations, potentially even green roofs. This is what we need to do if we are going to be comfortable in Canberra in the future, if we want Canberrans to be able to go outside, be healthy and use active travel, and even if we just want to stop the roads from melting on hot summer days.
Specifically I want to talk about buildings. We had a debate about that in the last sitting period, and I was very disappointed in the outcome. We have to start building climate-wise buildings now that are adapted for the hotter climate that Canberra now has. We are currently failing. We are building buildings facing west, with poor ventilation. These buildings are dangerous for people’s health during heatwaves. Heatwaves kill more people than all other extreme weather events combined. I recommend to all of us that we need to take this one seriously.
MR GENTLEMAN (Brindabella—Minister for the Environment and Heritage, Minister for Planning and Land Management, Minister for Police and Emergency Services and Minister assisting the Chief Minister on Advanced Technology and Space Industries) (3.31): I am delighted to speak on this MPI and talk about this government’s climate leadership. We often talk in this place about emissions
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