Tuesday, 30 April 2024

 Katherine COPSEY (Southern Metropolitan) (14:52): In the summer just before COVID much of eastern Australia was on fire. Everyone remembers how heat and smoke blanketed much of our state, making it difficult to breathe and with no way to escape the impacts. And then Victoria swung from bushfires to flash flooding in the space of 24 hours. The summer just finished came late, but it was hot. How many of our constituents wondered how to get through the day or how to sleep at night in a home with inadequate ventilation, no insulation and no cooling? We know that extreme heat kills people every year. It also disrupts our train systems and it melts our roads. Floods, fires, heatwaves and other climate disasters will be more frequent and intense, and we need to do more to prepare for them.

In Echuca for our regional sitting we all had the opportunity to contemplate the impact of climate-fuelled disasters on communities and the long tail of recovery. It is part of why the Greens proposed a parliamentary inquiry into how prepared we are for climate disasters. What are the barriers to upgrading our homes and infrastructure to withstand these impacts? What more could be done to protect Victorians from heat, smoke, climate-related disease, food, fire and other climate disasters? I and I am sure other members will encourage people to participate in a climate resilience inquiry. Please hop onto the Parliament website and submit your ideas for how we can prepare for the future.