Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Climate Change and Water) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Crossin for the question and for her interest in climate change, our response to it and the risks for the Northern Territory as well as for the rest of Australia. This report is an important and timely reminder of the significant impact that climate change will have in this nation if we do not act now to reduce Australia’s contribution to climate change. As the report notes, the majority of Australians—some 85 per cent of the population or thereabouts—live in the coastal zone, and climate change impacts on the Australian coastal zone include rising sea levels, more intense storms, larger wave and storm surges, altered precipitation and run-off, and ocean acidification. The report said that the concentration of Australia’s population and infrastructure along the coast makes us particularly vulnerable to the coastal erosion and inundation that will accompany increases in sea levels.

The report highlights some of the costs of climate change for Australia’s coastal communities. Coastal flooding, erosion and other hazards currently cost New South Wales around $200 million a year. Twenty per cent of Tasmania’s coastline would be at risk from sea-level rise and more severe storm surges associated with climate change. A 10-centimetre rise in sea levels would mean up to six times as many extreme events as there are currently in a range of cities, including Darwin. According to one submission referenced in the report, preliminary estimates of the value of property in Australia exposed to the risk of land being inundated or eroded by rising sea levels range from $50 billion to $150 billion. This gives us some sense of the economic costs of climate change and of the urgency of action now to reduce Australia’s contribution to climate change.