Climate protesters greet parliament
Protesters welcomed politicians with shouts of “climate action now” as they entered the Cairns Convention Centre for the first Queensland government regional parliamentary sitting in the city in 15 years.
Protesters chanted “Your climate policy needs a check, your emissions targets are weak as heck”, and “life in Cairns is getting tough, your climate targets aren't enough”.
The demonstration – hosted by Cairns and Far North Environment Centre (CAFNEC) and the Australian Marine Conservation Society (AMCS) – featured about 50 people demanding stronger emissions reduction targets to help protect the Great Barrier Reef and the 64,000 jobs it supports.
“It’s time for the Queensland government to take stronger climate action to protect our precious reef,” AMCS Great Barrier Reef community campaigner Tanya Murphy said.
“In the past seven years, the reef has suffered four mass
bleaching events driven by climate-fuelled marine heatwaves,” she said.
“The Queensland government’s current target of 30 per cent by 2030 is one of the lowest in the country and is not aligned with the Paris Agreement’s 1.5C goal, which is a critical temperature threshold for coral reefs.
“The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s latest report states that in a 2C
warming scenario coral reefs are projected to decline by 99 per cent.
“This puts the Great Barrier Reef and the region’s $6 billion tourism industry in grave danger,” Ms Murphy said.
CAFNEC’s community campaigner Bronwyn Opie said that reporting by Accenture had demonstrated that Queensland could reduce emissions to 60 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030.
“Climate change is the greatest threat to our region’s irreplaceable ecosystems, our coastal communities, and our tourism and agriculture industries,” Ms Opie said. “Scientists tell us that we need rapid reductions in emissions to safeguard our future, and 30 per cent by 2030 won’t cut it.”
Cairns GP and member of Doctors for the Environment Australia Nicole Sleeman said that climate change and the health of the community were linked. “I see the health impacts of climate change in general practice,” she said.
“In Cairns, heat-related illness is on the increase. During heatwaves there are increased ambulance call-outs and increased hospital admissions, increased presentations of heat-related illness to general practices,” Dr Sleeman said.
“Climate change is a health issue. The Queensland governments 30 per cent emissions falls short and puts the health of our community at risk.
“What we need is emissions reduction in line with the science, to protect human health.”