Sue Lines (WA, Deputy-President) Share this | Hansard source

I rise in support of this motion today. Right now, as I speak, an out-of-control bushfire is threatening the outer suburbs of the Perth metropolitan area, and it's been reported that, horrifically, 30 homes have been destroyed. Thankfully, no loss of life has been reported, but the bushfire is raging out of control. We know that at Tilden Park, in Gidgegannup, 80 per cent of homes have been lost. Of course, my absolute sympathy goes to those homeowners who have been affected so far and their families and friends. We know the bushfire right now is far from out. Indeed, having spoken to colleagues just earlier today, we know it has jumped the Great Eastern Highway. You only have to look at the BOM site: there is smoke haze right across the Perth metropolitan area. We've seen reports of leaves on fire at Wanneroo. That is a long way—for those who don't know Western Australia and the Perth metro area—from the centre of the fire. As far away as Fremantle and Rottnest we're having smoke haze reported. This is a devastating event happening right now in Perth, and it shows no sign of slowing down.

What's also happened across Western Australia, and particularly Perth, over the last couple of weeks is that we've had extraordinarily high temperatures. In Perth now, when it's 35 degrees, we think it's a pretty cool day. We've become so accustomed to much higher temperatures. In addition to that, throughout the summer, we've experienced very strong easterly winds—much stronger than we would normally experience. So all of these issues are telling us that our climate is changing. The easterly winds are a direct contributor right now to those out-of-control fires in the Perth metropolitan area. Perth is a sprawling city, and the suburbs of Ellenbrook and Dayton—areas in the federal seat of Pearce—have been evacuated. This is not something that's happening out on the border; this is something that's happening in the Perth metropolitan region right now.

No doubt, when this fire has been put out, people will start talking once again about its connection to climate change. Twelve months ago we had the devastating fires in the eastern states and in South Australia, where, tragically, many people lost their lives and homes and businesses were destroyed. Livestock and people are still recovering. We still have people living in tents. Leading up to that, we had Greg Mullins and 22 other former fire chiefs begging the Prime Minister, Mr Morrison, to meet with them. They hadn't just suddenly started to talk about the risk of inaction on climate change, linking it to bushfires; they'd been trying to meet with him. They were mocked by the Prime Minister and they were mocked by government members. And what have we heard today? 'Oh, this is all about Liberal and Labor.' It's not, people. It's about climate change. It's real.

But we know that those climate-denying backbench members of the Morrison government, who the government will not hold to account, are still the people controlling the Morrison government. You have to ask yourself why, after seven years and 22 energy policy attempts, the Morrison government have no national energy policy, they continue an anti-renewables agenda and they refuse to capitalise on the huge benefits that clean energy can bring to Australian households and businesses.

We've heard, 'Oh, we don't want to lose jobs.' Never once have we heard them talk about the job creation that would happen from investing in renewables, investing in a proper clean energy policy. And yesterday we heard some weasel words from the Prime Minister at the National Press Club, because with the election of Joe Biden in the US, suddenly the right-wing cloth that he was able to hide behind, with Trump, has gone. So, now the stark reality is that we have someone in the US who's going to lead on climate change, and I think that is the only reason we saw a little bit of a shift from Mr Morrison, but no plans, not one single idea about job creation, about clean energy—just his throwaway line that he hopes to get there with a reduction by 2050, that he hopes to get there earlier. Well, it needs more than hope, Mr Morrison. It actually needs a government that is committed to the science of climate change, that holds its backbenchers to account when they put up ridiculous notions, that accepts that climate change is real, that accepts that what's happening right now in the Perth metropolitan area is real and that there's a link to climate change.

How many more reports that the globe is heating up do we need to have? Australia experienced its fourth-hottest year on record last year. Perth is experiencing right now—yesterday, today and tomorrow—unprecedented high temperatures and really strong easterly winds. This is affecting people and their jobs. If the Morrison government is serious about protecting jobs, it should start action on climate change. I don't know how many jobs the loss of 30 homes in WA represents. If you look at the flow-on effect of that, men, women and children—young people—have lost their jobs. Get real. Climate change is real. Stop denying the facts.