State and national climate change risk assessments are clear the impacts of global heating are already being felt in Tasmania and will only intensify, but the first Abetz budget strips funding from the climate change office.
Funding falls from $10 313 000 in 2024-25 to $2 837 000 in 2028-29.
It’s as shocking as it is shameful.
This is climate change denialism at its worst. Funding an unaffordable vanity project at Macquarie Point while crushing the State’s capacity to tackle the single biggest threat and challenge of our times is negligent.
Climate action has never been adequately funded by the Liberals in government, but this is a new low as the planet continues to heat, threatening Tasmanian communities across the island.
The national and state climate risk assessment reports call on governments to invest in climate mitigation and adaptation, to buffer communities, the environment and our island economy from the coming shocks. The Rockliff Government is ignoring these calls, and the reality.
They’ve even gone so far as to push off a new Climate Change Action Plan, which was promised to be delivered this year. It’s just another indication of how unserious they are about a safe climate future.
It’s the equivalent of fiddling while Rome burns, and it sends the worst possible message to young Tasmanians about what their government thinks of their future.
The message is that the Rockliff Government is much more committed to a new, billion dollar stadium than they are to a safe climate future for all Tasmanians.
The Greens will continue to negotiate, advocate and fight hard for the Tasmanian Government to wake up to the reality of global heating.
