Kristy McBain (Eden-Monaro, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I acknowledge the work and commitment of the member for Warringah, Zali Steggall, who has brought forward this motion for discussion. Unlike the member for Fairfax, people around Australia hate politics for politics' sake. They actually want people to work together.

The impact of climate change looms large around Eden-Monaro. Climate change is a day-to-day reality from Tumbarumba to Tathra. At the end of the hottest and driest year on record, sparks of lightning lit the fuse of a defining chapter in our history. I've spoken about the 750 Eden-Monaro homes destroyed in the angry flames that followed, so today I'll use this opportunity to explore a couple of other experiences. As the member for Warringah says, 400 people died of smoke inhalation as a result of the 'black summer' and 4,000 people were hospitalised. The sky was orange and the air was thick with smoke as I stood in evacuation centre after evacuation centre with thousands of people during January. Time and time again people asked me about the health impacts of breathing in air from our traumatised environment. Our volunteer firefighters were also worried. The women and men who went running into the smoke often did so without the very best protection. We even saw crowdfunding campaigns spring up to buy local firefighters better-quality breathing protection. These are questions and situations we really haven't had to comprehend on this scale before. But as climate change bites these are the shoes we will walk in again, and we need to know more and have better protections in place.

I recently met with researchers from the Australian National University in my Queanbeyan electorate office. They are looking at the effects of prolonged bushfire smoke exposure on the physical health, mental health and lifestyle of residents in Eden-Monaro and the ACT. The health impact on pregnant women and their children is a particular focus and an area of work that remains unfunded. The findings of this study will be used to influence health advice and procedures for future events. Researchers are currently looking for more people, especially women who were pregnant at the time, to take part in this research. Details are available through the ANU website.

Parts of Eden-Monaro—around 75 per of our national park estate—were burnt out. Members don't need to travel too far from here to see the harsh devastation for themselves. On Friday I visited the Two Thumbs koala sanctuary at Peak View, near Cooma. Tragically, three American aviators lost their lives trying to protect Two Thumbs when their massive firefighting air tanker crashed to the ground in January. Since that time James Fitzgerald and a tribe of volunteers at Two Thumbs have rescued 41 koalas from their burnt habitat—but, as James told me on Friday, he estimates that hundreds more perished. In the days that followed the flames he remembers hearing koalas crying out in pain at night. A Go Fund Me campaign was set up to assist him, and he has kindly donated $100,000 of that money to the ANU koala research project that is also supported by the Minderoo Foundation. The project will examine how koalas recover after fire and how fire impacts their environment. It is knowledge we need now in order to safeguard the future of this precious species. But I fear the momentum of climate change might beat us to that knowledge and the work we need to do to protect the koala. This research shouldn't need to be funded from a Go Fund Me account. It should be backed and funded by this government.

While the people, environment and economy of Eden-Monaro have waited for this government to act on climate change, koalas and their habitat have burnt. While the people, environment and economy of Eden-Monaro have waited for this government to act on climate change, our lungs have filled with deadly smoke. As the member for Warringah says in her motion, countries like the United Kingdom, Germany and even Fiji have moved towards a decarbonised economy. They are reaping the benefits, with almost 400,000 new jobs created in the UK's new low-carbon economy. I look forward to working with the member for Warringah and my colleagues in the Labor Party to prepare our community for the impacts of climate change, to limit the toll climate change takes on our health and environment and to make the most of the jobs and opportunities that come with action on climate change.

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