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Climate change is already harming communities and systems essential to life in Australia, and millions of people across the continent will be threatened by heatwaves, megafires, rising seas and other harms in a rapidly warming world.
That’s the sobering message delivered yesterday in Australia’s first National Climate Risk Assessment. Andrew B. Watkins and his colleagues helped author the assessment and say climate change will touch every corner of the continent – from homes to health, and the economy to the environment. No community or individual is immune.
The government sat on the report for months, fuelling speculation the findings were grim. Those fears have now been confirmed. The report paves the way for the government to reveal Australia’s 2035 emissions targets – an announcement expected later this week. That long-awaited policy will reveal the depth of Labor’s commitment to averting catastrophic global warming.
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Nicole Hasham
Energy + Environment Editor
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Andrew B. Watkins, Monash University; Lucas Walsh, Monash University; Tas van Ommen, University of Tasmania
The sobering assessment is a national call to action. The sooner Australia mitigates and adapts, the safer we will be.
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Johanna Nalau, Griffith University; Mark Howden, Australian National University
At long last, Australia has a national climate adaptation plan to guide public and private responses to intensifying threats.
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Jenny Gordon, Australian National University
This is a worthwhile exercise, and over time will provide a scorecard on government performance on key measures.
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Ian Kemish, The University of Queensland
The new treaty will recognise PNG as a nation that makes its own strategic decisions, and ensure Australia is a partner that shows up and stays the course.
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Jeannie Marie Paterson, The University of Melbourne
The need to better protect consumers was raised years ago in the banking royal commission. So why does it feel like we are back here again?
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Kirsty Ross, Te Kunenga ki Pūrehuroa – Massey University
After four years’ isolation, the Phillips children will likely struggle to understand and believe the world is different from the version their father may have told them.
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Ehsan Noroozinejad, Western Sydney University; Greg Morrison, Western Sydney University; Shameran Slewa-Younan, Western Sydney University
One Australian survey found more than a third of private renters feel their housing situation is harming their mental health.
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Hsiao-chun Hung, Australian National University
New research shows a tradition of smoke-drying human remains persisted for thousands of years across southern Asia and beyond – even into the modern day.
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Health + Medicine
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C Raina MacIntyre, UNSW Sydney; Ashley Quigley, UNSW Sydney; Mohana Priya Kunasekaran, UNSW Sydney; Noor Jahan Begum Bari, UNSW Sydney
The outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has claimed 28 lives, including four health workers. Here’s what it means for those in the region and beyond.
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Hunter Bennett, University of South Australia
Not all of us can find time for a long gym workout or a run. But do small bursts of activity have the same effect?
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Dennis Wesselbaum, University of Otago
Going hungry sometimes or often has become increasingly common for many New Zealanders. Solutions need to be targeted to individual or household circumstances.
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Business + Economy
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Michael P. Cameron, University of Waikato
The NZ Super Fund is the world’s top performing sovereign wealth fund. Increasing government contributions would be the best way to tackle a looming pension crisis.
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Education
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Jemma Hamley, James Cook University
One woman explained other parents at school ‘would literally not talk to me, they wouldn’t let their children come over.’
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Science + Technology
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Saini Samim, The University of Melbourne; Hayden Dalton, The University of Melbourne
For archaeologists, fossils sandwiched between volcanic ash layers are invaluable as geological time stamps.
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Benjamin Wagner, The University of Melbourne
The new technology will help scientists monitor and protect some of Australia’s most iconic and threatened forest species.
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Arts + Culture
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Karen Stollznow, Griffith University
Bitch is a slur – and a powerful symbol – that continues to divide us. Unfortunately, it’s unlikely to ever be fully reclaimed. Here’s why.
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James Birt, Bond University
Hollow Knight Silksong was made by Adelaide’s Team Cherry. Its success demonstrates why video games are more than entertainment.
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Books + Ideas
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Astrid Edwards, The University of Melbourne
Mariam Rahmani’s witty debut novel, Liquid, set between the US and Tehran, is a rom com for the age of precarity.
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Which type of disease?
"I worked on the National Public Health Partnership in the 90s and I am concerned that yet again most of the work of the Centre for Disease Control will become communicable diseases and not chronic diseases. This has happened time and time again in the public health space. Most money goes towards counting numbers and only what is left over, which is usually minimal, goes towards improving those numbers and promoting health, particularly in preventing conditions occurring, then limiting their progression."
Margaret Bonner
Smoke screen
"Many films and TV programs display and therefore normalise smoking these days. It was understandable that smoking was common in film and television up to the 1970s when the harm was finally acknowledged publicly, however now it is completely irresponsible to be showing it."
Manuela Epstein, Pyrmont NSW 
Mixed-age childcare?
"Bundling babies and young children by age in childcare may inform poor outcomes. Infants learn from observation and practice. In family settings, infants with older siblings see more mature behaviour models in life. They are also more likely to be engaging one-on-one with older kids and adults which promotes development. This is not available to them if most of their waking time from early infancy is spent in groups of their own age in formal care."
Marle Prunean
We'd love to hear from you. You can email us with your thoughts on our stories and each day we'll publish an edited selection.
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Auckland University of Technology
Auckland, New Zealand
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Contract
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AUT
Auckland CBD, Auckland, New Zealand
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Full Time
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