Rosalie Woodruff MP | Greens Climate Change and Health spokesperson
The Greens commend the Tasmanian branch of the Australian Medical Association for their strong statement recognising the existential threat of climate change, and echo their call for the Gutwein Government to take urgent climate action.
The AMA are absolutely right – the climate emergency is a health emergency.
Medical professionals are on the frontline, confronting the impact the damage to our planet’s life-support systems is having on patients’ health.
The Tasmanian AMA’s call for climate action follows the lead of the national, US and UK bodies, and the 250 doctors, nurses and medical students who wrote to the Premier and Climate Change Minister demanding an end to native forest logging.
Climate action in Tasmania must include protecting this island’s important planetary carbon stores – native forests.
Despite the urgent need to reduce emissions and preserve biodiversity, the Liberal Government has escalated the logging of native forests. Resources Minister, Guy Barnett, and his colleagues are determinedly destroying critical carbon banks.
No government that’s serious about climate action can log and burn native forests.
The Premier needs to listen to the health experts, as he did during the coronavirus emergency.
We urge Premier Gutwein to listen to the medical professionals calling for climate action and take two clear steps: protect the state’s biggest climate asset, our carbon rich native forests; and support the Greens’ Safe Climate Bill 2020 when it is debated this year.