Thursday, 29 August 2024

Climate change

Tom McINTOSH (Eastern Victoria) (09:59): I want to again put on the record my concern about the impact of changing climate on the cost of living. In the last 12 months insurance bills have risen 16.4 per cent. More frequent and severe storms are hitting consumers at the supermarket: when our regions are smashed, produce – fruit, veg, grain and crop – is more expensive. And those opposite might laugh and smirk, but farmers in the south-west have received some of the lowest rain on record, snowfall is half the annual average and we know last year average temperatures around the world were up by 1.5 degrees. For 20 years the Liberals and Nationals have denied and delayed reducing our emissions, and now we see a further delay with the conversation on nuclear. So I stand and commit myself, as does the Labor Party, to act to prevent further weather change driven cost-of-living increases, being insurance, food, health, infrastructure and many more costs that are imposed on all of us. Before the next severe weather event when they stand up and ask for more and more supports for communities that are being smashed, I ask the coalition members, the Liberals and the Nationals, to stand up and confirm that they acknowledge and understand the changes to our climate and say what they intend to do to stop these severe weather events that keep occurring.