28 Dec 2022
Recent legislative action to curtail the power
of the gas and coal industry are a glimmer of progress but more needs to be
done
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As the
world experienced a gas crisis in 2022, the Australian industry has run rampant
with excessive windfall profits while calling for massive expansion development
and increased LNG exports. Photograph: Bloomberg/Getty Images
Wed 28 Dec 2022 01.05 GMT
I t has been a tumultuous year for the climate in Australia: from
record-breaking weather events to a climate surprise in the election, a new
target and a global energy crisis, this year has seen its fair share of change.
In February, the east-coast town of Lismore
and the northern rivers region in New South Wales were hit by the worst
flooding in Australia’s modern history – the first of what would be a year of
terrible floods, against the backdrop of a record third La Niña. Australia’s
climate impacts are worsening, according to the latest report from the Bureau of Meteorology
and CSIRO. Many of those being hit by floods now were three years ago battling
raging bushfires and drought.
The
Morrison government’s response was weak, with its March budget delivering little in terms of action.
The beginning of the year also saw
the Great Barrier Reef suffer its sixth major bleaching event, and our coral
reef scientists have recently flagged the prospects of a seventh.
Australians are feeling the heat of
climate change, and in May they voted accordingly, delivering a win to Anthony
Albanese’s Labor party, which saw voters switching away from the Coalition, but
to the independents and the Greens, rather than Labor. The ABC’s Vote Compass showed the biggest issue for
voters, more than the economy or the pandemic, was climate change, surprising
many. This has since been confirmed by other research .