Mark Dreyfus (Isaacs, Australian Labor Party, Cabinet Secretary) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Corangamite for his question which relates to the identified impacts of sea level rise across Australia as a result of climate change that we know is certain to occur and is already occurring, and that is why various state governments have already written it into planning schemes. Notably, the Victorian state government have written into the planning schemes for the 12 coastal municipalities a projected sea level rise of 0.8 metre by the end of this century, which will of course affect parts of the electorate of Corangamite and indeed parts of my electorate on the eastern shores of Port Phillip Bay. Some of the material published by the Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency indicates that with increased sea levels, it is likely that storm surge and inundation events could well threaten some 9,000 homes in the electorate of Isaacs by the end of this century. Similar events are predicted to occur right across Australia in coastal areas, particularly in low-lying areas and up the east coast of Australia that will threaten homes and businesses—all of which are likely to require very serious adaptation measures to be taken.

In addition to the mitigation policy work being undertaken both at the domestic and at the international level, the Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency is also working on adaptation measures, funding research into adaptation and assisting both local governments and state governments in planning for the inevitable changes that are going to occur in Australia's coastal areas as a result of climate change that we know is going to occur. One of the reasons that the Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency has published a range of material, including first pass coastal mapping exercises, is to increase awareness of the threat posed by sea level rise in the coastal areas of Australia. That mapping uses aerial photography and computer assisted calculation to map and show in a direct way the areas that are exposed to the effects of sea level rise. One of the reasons the government last week published a series of facts sheets dealing with the effects in each state of sea level rise, or indeed all of the effects that are predicted now from climate change, is to raise awareness of sea level rise. We know, for example, that sea level has already risen by 20 centimetres globally since the late 1800s. There have already been impacts on coastal communities throughout the world. There is a projected further 20 centimetre increase by 2050, on current predictions, which would more than double the risk of coastal flooding.

As already pointed out by the minister, it is not just Australia that is at risk of sea level rise; it is every coastal community in the world. It is a global problem that we are trying to deal with. As the minister mentioned in his previous answer, we have recently had a visit from the Bangladeshi minister for climate change. Their problem—somewhat different from the those faced by the large number of small island states—is that they face the potential dislocation of some 30 million of their people. Bangladesh is a populous country of 160 million people currently, and 30 million of those are at risk from the sea level rise that is predicted by the turn of the century if we do not quickly act on the mitigation task we face.

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