Introduction by Croakey: Recent extreme weather and climate events in Western Australia – including bushfires, heatwaves, Tropical Cyclone Zelia and subsequent flooding – underscore the importance of ending support for fossil fuels and building a climate resilient healthcare system.
But is climate action high on the agenda for voters in WA, just a few weeks out from the State election on 8 March?
The Royal Australasian College of Physicians (RACP) has nominated climate action as one of its key calls to action for the next WA Government, warning of the warming climate’s increasing impacts on the health of Western Australian and on already stretched healthcare services, as well as on medical workforce sustainability.
Below Dr Richard Yin, retired GP and former Board member of Doctors for the Environment Australia (DEA), and Dr Emma-Leigh Synnott, Chair for the WA branch of DEA, back the RACP calls urging the next WA Government to prevent and address harms from fossil fuels.
They also recommend the next Government run health campaigns to educate the public about the risks of climate change and the need to transition, build the capacity of the Sustainable Development Unit within the WA Department of Health, establish a state climate change bill, and work to phase out gas.
At the end of last year, WA Environment Minister Reece Whitby approved the 50-year extension of Woodside’s North West Shelf gas project. It is now sitting with Federal Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek undergoing the federal approval process, which has been delayed until 31 March.
Libby Mettam, Leader of the WA Liberal Party, has signalled support for developing new gas generation capacity. Meanwhile, the WA Greens 2025 Climate Platform includes a clean energy transition levy on gas revenue, a gas transition plan for the state and 2030 emissions reduction and renewable energy targets.
Richard Yin and Emma-Leigh Synnott write:
Western Australia has seen record high temperatures across the state already this year, following the state’s hottest summer on record in 2024.
Flooding in the aftermath of last week’s Tropical Cyclone Zelia in the north-west of the Western Australia has cut off freight routes and supermarket shelves have been stripped bare.
Marine heatwaves off the Pilbara coast have caused widespread bleaching at Ningaloo Reef and caused the deaths of thousands of fish.
The record temperatures and increased frequency and severity of fires, heatwaves, and flooding we are witnessing in WA was predicted by climate scientists decades ago.
The heating of the climate has supercharged our weather system, making extreme weather events more likely and more severe. In WA we are particularly at risk of these changes.
Climate change is already having profound impacts on the health and wellbeing of Western Australians and our health system – and this is expected to increase in coming years.
Heat-related costs are projected to increase by $30 million in 2050 in Perth alone, driven largely by an increase in presentations to emergency departments and hospital admissions.
In Australia, 15 percent of homes are paying four weeks of gross household income on insurance and it is expected that 10 percent of homes in Australia may be uninsurable within the next 10 years.
These health externalities from climate change are simply not being recognised by the Government.
In WA, emissions and our contribution to this harm continue to rise – fuelled largely by the gas sector.
We do not have a climate change bill nor interim emissions reduction targets, and no renewable energy target. We are one of the largest exporters of gas globally and the state has just approved the North-West Shelf Extension Gas Project through to 2070.
The WA health system is also a significant contributor to carbon emissions, responsible for approximately eight percent of the state’s emission profile in 2020. While the sector is setting high ambitions for decarbonisation with a net-zero target of at least 2040, it needs further support.
Doctors for the Environment Australia calls on all candidates in the upcoming state election to put health first and protect the health of Australians from worsening climate change. Time is running out. New ambition is required.
As doctors, caring about our health and wellbeing is at the heart of what we do.
Priorities for the next Government
We support the call by the Royal Australasian College of Physicians for the incoming Western Australian Government to:
- Recognise, prevent and address harms that fossil fuels and other environmental harms pose directly to human health and indirectly through exacerbation of climate change and planetary health decline.
- Commit to supporting communities in building understanding and actions toward both mitigate and adaptation to climate change focusing on a just transition for all.
- Build healthcare system climate resilience including a strong, sustainable medical workforce and resourcing and prioritising the strategic priority of achieving net zero healthcare emissions by 2040.
We ask the Government to provide a sensible overarching policy to address climate change and environmental harms that would include:
- A climate change bill with interim emissions reduction targets for the whole of the economy, aligned to science for what is required to keep global temperatures to below 1.5C.
- A Renewable Energy Target to drive ambition and provide investor certainty.
- Establish an independent expert body to provide advice and undertake other functions to support climate action in WA.
- Greater investment by the government in the energy transition.
- A gas phase out plan and within that a set date for the banning of gas connections in new residential and small commercial buildings.
- Protect nature and biodiversity by committing to the Nature Positive agenda, protect and conserve 30 percent of WA’s landmass and 30 percent of WA’s marine areas by 2030.
- Re-establish regular State of the Environment reporting.
To build support and ensure community needs are understood, there needs to be a strong focus on public education on the risks of climate change and the benefits of transition and for all to share in the benefits of an energy transition.
These would include:
- Providing a household package for those seeking to electrify including subsidies for rooftop solar/home batteries/heat pumps and ensure that these benefits focus on supporting those most disadvantaged and those most impacted.
- Health campaigns to educate the public about the risks of climate change and the need to transition.
- Leverage the State Public Health Plan and corresponding local government area Public Health Plans (outlined under the Public Health Act 2016), to coordinate place based cross-government actions that support health focused climate change mitigation and resilience planning responses including:
- Urban planning for built environments that are climate resilient and promote health and wellbeing. This would include considerations of walkability, public transport infrastructure, preserving and increasing urban canopy, and equitable access to green spaces and community infrastructure.
- Investing in community-led responses to climate mitigation and building climate resilience that are culturally appropriate and meet the needs of priority populations,
- Work with communities on heat adaptation responses, such as exploring equitable access to public cooling spaces for those without access to thermally safe housing, with facilities and support for priority populations including transport to cooling spaces.
Build healthcare system climate resilience including a strong, sustainable medical workforce by:
- Commit to, and deliver on-track progress towards, net zero healthcare emissions by 2040.
- Elevate the Sustainable Development Unit’s (SDU) position within the Department of Health’s organisational structure to increase its visibility and its capacity to improve cross-portfolio integration.
- Increase dedicated funding and resourcing of the SDU and within health service providers to help drive mitigation and adaptation programmes.
- Build capacity for the SDU to work with and across community, government departments and non-government organisations including research and education organisations.
About the authors
Dr Richard Yin is a retired GP, previous Board member of Doctors for the Environment Australia and continues an active role in the WA committee. He is also the President of the Conservation Council of WA. He sees himself as climate change and health advocate working across a range of sectors to drive change and to build a social movement.
Dr Emma-Leigh Synnott is the WA Chair for Doctors for the Environment Australia. She is a physician, academic, researcher, and community organiser working at the intersections of planetary health, ecological and social justice, and human health and wellbeing.
See Croakey’s articles on Western Australia’s 2025 state election.
