Tuesday, 6 February 2024

Climate change

Sarah MANSFIELD (Western Victoria) (18:35): (658) The action I am seeking is for the Minister for Planning to urgently revise Victoria’s outdated planning legislation to reflect the risk of sea level rise based on the best available science. Last month the Labor government released the Port Phillip Bay coastal hazard assessment. The assessment maps the areas along Victoria’s coastline which will be inundated by water when the sea level rises by 1.4 metres, as projected by the CSIRO. If you have not seen this mapping before, take a look. It clearly demonstrates what many have been warning about for far too long – that at the turn of the next century much of our coastline will be uninhabitable. Point Lonsdale, Barwon Heads, Queenscliff and Portarlington on the Bellarine Peninsula in my electorate of Western Victoria are particularly vulnerable, with much of the towns underwater during a one-in-100-year storm event.

Whilst many reports have focused on the loss of public infrastructure and homes, there is also a significant impact on our ecosystems. Coastal erosion will devastate habitats of already threatened species. Fish, bird life and our coast-dwelling mammals are set to lose not just their homes but also their lives.

Reports estimate that coastal inundation will come with an astronomical price tag. The Victorian Marine and Coastal Council last year predicted that an 82-centimetre sea level rise by 2100 when combined with storm surges would cost Victoria $442 billion and over 80,000 homes would be lost, not to mention an upwards of $105 billion loss for our wetlands. But sea level rise is actually on track to reach 140 centimetres – 60 per cent higher than what is currently built into planning regulations – so these eye-watering cost estimates are not even close to the mark, yet Labor continue to allow development on land that is going to be impacted by inundation and flooding and councils and planning authorities are bound by woefully inadequate planning laws.

For decades we have been warned about the impacts of climate change. We are now experiencing it. Every year brings ever more severe weather events, and sea level rise has begun. Accepting that climate change is happening can cause feelings of despair, but for the government it must be a call to action. Victorian Labor must listen to the science on emissions and stop supporting new coal and gas projects, but they also must listen to the science when it comes to preparing for the impacts of climate change that their and other governments’ negligence has guaranteed. I urge the minister to update our planning laws to protect all Victorians.