Today Emergency Leaders for Climate Action will release a strong statement calling for greater climate action as communities are repeatedly hit by extreme weather.
The statement from 38 former Australian fire and emergency service chiefs in response to Ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred, says they are "deeply concerned about the trend of worsening extreme weather disasters, fuelled by climate change."
They emphasise that Australians are now hit over and over due to climate change, stating "many Australians are increasingly being impacted by consecutive, compounding climate disasters including heatwaves, drought, fires, storms and floods, leaving little time for recovery."
"Fire and emergency services and the Australian Defence Force are now having to respond to more frequent and extreme natural disasters, stretching their capacity. More intense, frequent extreme weather events put emergency responders in greater danger, for longer and more often."
Former Commissioner of Fire & Rescue NSW and founder of Emergency Leaders for Climate Action, Greg Mullins said: "In my decades of service in NSW I never had to deal with a tropical cyclone reaching so far south. This is deeply disturbing and something climate scientists had warned us about. As we head to a federal election it reinforces why Australians simply can't afford to go backwards on climate action."
The statement acknowledges the marked improvement in response to this disaster. Particularly, the preparation from public agencies in safeguarding communities, as well as the focus from the Prime Minister and Premiers of Queensland and New South Wales. It states, "This was in stark contrast to the previous Coalition government's mismanagement during the Black Summer bushfires, as well as the devastating floods in early 2022."
The statement emphasises that climate change is a critical issue this Federal election as the disasters become more frequent and damaging.
"Governments at all levels must acknowledge that prolonging the use of fossil fuels will make future disasters even worse."
"As we approach a Federal election, Australia can't afford to slip back into climate denial, inaction, and far-off "solutions" that will actually increase climate pollution."
"Time was on our side for this cyclone, but we are fast running out of it when it comes to staving off much worse impacts." the former emergency chiefs said.
The full statement is attached.
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