Ms ROSOL (Bass) – Deputy Speaker, I thank the member for Lyons for raising this important matter this morning. Climate change is real, climate change is here and it is impacting people now. It is not some far‑off distant event that we have time to prepare for. We must be preparing now.
We have seen the impact of climate change this week with the weather events that have happened. I will raise some of the impact of that in Bass, and the ongoing impact. When I checked on the TasNetworks site this morning, there were still 12 outages in Bass, with 205 houses affected. That is 12 days without power so far. People have contacted me in great distress as a result of this. They are spending lots of money on generator fuel, they are having to use laundromats to wash their clothes. One person said they were desperate for a hot shower. Other people are spending great amounts of money on takeaway and eating out because they cannot prepare food at home. While the grants from the government are welcome and have been helpful for people, we know there is still a great deal of distress, stress and inconvenience for people, despite receiving funding.
We know that events like this will only increase as a result of climate change. We must be doing all we can to address carbon emissions in Tasmania and be prepared. We know the best thing we can do to reduce our carbon emissions in Tasmania is to end native forest logging. If we want to do anything to make a big difference to what we do as a state we can keep those incredible trees in the ground and ensure we are not releasing carbon into the atmosphere by logging our native forests.
We also need to be prepared and make sure we keep infrastructure in the best shape possible so we are ready for situations like this. We need to have systems in place and a plan, and make sure we are funding all of these things properly so that the next time these events happen, and they will, we are ready and people are not left in difficult situations for days and weeks at a time.
I agree that climate change is a matter of public importance and call on all of us, as a parliament, to take the action necessary to ensure Tasmania is prepared for what will come.
