Bushfire survivors call out Peter Dutton’s abandonment of communities on the frontline of climate change
Bushfire Survivors for Climate Action Media Release
Bushfire Survivors for Climate Action (BSCA) has spoken out in response to Opposition Leader Peter Dutton’s statements in The Australian today that the Federal Liberal Party would dump Australia’s interim emissions reduction targets. The organisation, founded and led by bushfire survivors, has labelled the move reckless and devastating.
“Here we are watching communities face climate-fueled disasters roll around again and again, with insurance costs rising and homes in some regions becoming uninsurable, yet the Opposition Leader is prepared to delay climate action until the 2040s. To say our members are distraught is an understatement,” said Serena Joyner, Chief Executive Officer of Bushfire Survivors for Climate Action.
“What’s particularly hard to understand is how the Coalition can justify the ever growing expense of worsening climate disasters. The bushfires of 2019-2020 and the 2022 Northern Rivers floods each cost insurers more than $4 billion, and the cost to farmers of the Black Summer fires was $5 billion. Nearly 60% of all local government areas were disaster-declared in 2022 and councils everywhere have been unable to keep up with repairs to local infrastructure.
“And insurance costs are just beginning when accounting for the personal financial and emotional costs to people and communities across the country from more frequent and destructive fires and floods. There’s only so much we can take. Does Peter Dutton expect our regions to just give up and move to the city?
“Scientists tell us if we delay urgent climate action we guarantee that global temperatures will keep rising. That would condemn Australia to face summers like Black Summer on a regular basis, if not worse. It is beyond belief that the Opposition Leader thinks that is an acceptable future for this country.”
About Bushfire Survivors for Climate Action:
Bushfire Survivors for Climate Action (BSCA) is a non-partisan, community organisation made up of bushfire survivors, firefighters and their families working together to call on our leaders to take action on climate change. BSCA formed shortly after the Tathra and District fire in March 2018, and its founding members were all impacted by bushfires, including the Black Summer bushfires in 2019-20, Blue Mountains in 2013, Black Saturday in 2009 and Canberra in 2003.
BSCA has been at the cutting edge of legal reform to reduce climate emissions and hold governments, agencies and companies to account. In 2023 the NSW Environment Protection Agency was the first such agency in the country to introduce a climate policy, which it was required to do as a result of landmark court action taken by BSCA.
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5 comments
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Harry Lime -
John C -
uncletimrob -
Terence Mills -
Keith
Return to home pageFor the benefit of those for whom the penny has yet to drop,Dutton is a five star fuckwit,driven by the mistaken belief that he is Prime Minister material.His mumbled rantings on any and all subjects give the lie to his increasing desperation.He is,at best warming the LOTO chair until the next election,because in his shambolic party no one wants the job.Outside of some parts of Queensland,he has all the attraction of a malfunctioning sewerage farm.
@Harry Lime.
Nailed it! Couldn’t agree more. One thing Australians can enjoy is knowing that while the Festering Rotten Spud is in the leader’s role the Libtards will never be re-elected. He is so bad he even makes the Orange Felon appear normal!
@ Harry
Yes, but the latest newspoll, conducted between June 3rd and 7th, suggests his popularity is increasing – go figure!
Oddly, Peter Dutton and his energy and climate spokesperson, Ted O’Brien, have said that they would scrap the interim emission targets which Australia had signed up to as part of the Paris Agreement on climate change.
The objective was to reduce emissions by 50% on 2005 levels by 2030. Reducing emissions by 70% on 2005 levels by 2035. Reaching net zero by 2050.
Confusingly, Ted O’Brien has said today that the coalition are sticking with the target of net zero by 2050 but they will achieve this by eliminating interim targets, increasing dependence on gas and introducing an array of nuclear power stations across the nation – whilst they are hard to pin down on the latter, they seem to be saying that we will have six nuclear power stations at locations yet to be identified and these will either be small modular reactors (SMR’s) or a combination with larger reactors.
All of this is very hazy at the present time and if you listen to Ted O’Brien (not recommended) you will end up totally confused as to what the coalition policy is, if indeed they actually do have a policy at all.
By the way, if you are not clear on what ‘Net zero’ means it refers to achieving an overall balance between greenhouse gas emissions produced and greenhouse gas emissions taken out of the atmosphere – when that balance is achieved – for CO2 at least – it is the point at which global warming stops – whoopee !
Pushing the emissions target to 2050 is a nonsense. It is virtually stating that the LNP have no policy on climate change. If you wish to provide children with a worse future than is already anticipated, the Dutton view is the way to go. While Dutton is b*ggerising around doing nothing, oceans will continue to warm and rise, and more CO2 will be expelled into the atmosphere. CO2 can remain in the atmosphere for centuries. If the wish is to kill people, create disease, create drought , create huge floods, destroy homes, destroy infrastructure; then the LNP is the way to vote. That’s the reality of a worsening climate. The Labor Party also need to get their act together in relation to developing more gas fields. A further dangerous situation.