2 years ago
REGIONS AT RISK, WHILE DISASTER RESILENCE FORGOTTEN
Murray Watt MP
The Morrison Government must start taking climate action and protect Australia from worsening natural disasters, with our regions now more exposed than ever.
The IPCC’s latest findings on dangerously rising global temperatures make it clear more frequent and severe natural disasters like fires, floods and cyclones will be a reality for our regions in years to come.
That’s why it’s so important for the Morrison Government to be leading natural disaster prevention efforts, in order to protect lives and property from future disasters.
Unfortunately, this government has seen eight long years of wasted opportunity to keep regional Australians safe.
Scott Morrison was slow to act in the Black Summer bushfires, ignoring expert advice that warned of the danger, and now he’s ignoring the warnings from the IPCC.
Protecting against natural disasters – and supporting regional Australians when they’re hit, is a race.
This lack of action is costing regional Australians more, thanks to skyrocketing insurance premiums and hefty damage bills.
It’s tragic that money allocated for disaster mitigation is not being used, including the $4 billion Emergency Response Fund (ERF) which sat untouched by the Morrison Government for more than two years, despite being announced in April 2019.
Even now, the most recent Senate Estimates found ERF projects were still yet to see funding hit the ground.
This fund has earned more in interest than protecting and assisting Australians with natural disasters.
The fact that the Scott Morrison deliberately chose to keep taxpayer money in the bank, rather than deliver potentially life-saving infrastructure is even more appalling in light of the Black Summer bushfires, tropical cyclones and major floods which have recently impacted millions of Australians.
Sadly the Morrison Government is too busy squabbling amongst themselves on the basic science of climate change, while Australians in disaster-prone regions are left to fend for themselves.
It’s time the Government stopped spinning and started delivering, both on disaster funding and on climate change.
All of our states and territories, all leading business, industry and agricultural groups are on the same page here – committing to net zero emissions by 2050. It is Scott Morrison’s government that is alone, leaving regional Australians at risk.
It’s time the Prime Minister took responsibility, got serious about disaster mitigation and kept our regions safe.
The IPCC’s latest findings on dangerously rising global temperatures make it clear more frequent and severe natural disasters like fires, floods and cyclones will be a reality for our regions in years to come.
That’s why it’s so important for the Morrison Government to be leading natural disaster prevention efforts, in order to protect lives and property from future disasters.
Unfortunately, this government has seen eight long years of wasted opportunity to keep regional Australians safe.
Scott Morrison was slow to act in the Black Summer bushfires, ignoring expert advice that warned of the danger, and now he’s ignoring the warnings from the IPCC.
Protecting against natural disasters – and supporting regional Australians when they’re hit, is a race.
This lack of action is costing regional Australians more, thanks to skyrocketing insurance premiums and hefty damage bills.
It’s tragic that money allocated for disaster mitigation is not being used, including the $4 billion Emergency Response Fund (ERF) which sat untouched by the Morrison Government for more than two years, despite being announced in April 2019.
Even now, the most recent Senate Estimates found ERF projects were still yet to see funding hit the ground.
This fund has earned more in interest than protecting and assisting Australians with natural disasters.
The fact that the Scott Morrison deliberately chose to keep taxpayer money in the bank, rather than deliver potentially life-saving infrastructure is even more appalling in light of the Black Summer bushfires, tropical cyclones and major floods which have recently impacted millions of Australians.
Sadly the Morrison Government is too busy squabbling amongst themselves on the basic science of climate change, while Australians in disaster-prone regions are left to fend for themselves.
It’s time the Government stopped spinning and started delivering, both on disaster funding and on climate change.
All of our states and territories, all leading business, industry and agricultural groups are on the same page here – committing to net zero emissions by 2050. It is Scott Morrison’s government that is alone, leaving regional Australians at risk.
It’s time the Prime Minister took responsibility, got serious about disaster mitigation and kept our regions safe.