The evidence is irrefutable. Climate change is having a profoundly and increasingly negative impact on the health of the planet – and on the global human community.
Children are particularly affected; so is maternal health. Yet Australia is one of a number of resource-driven nations where facing the immediate and the far-reaching consequences of climate change and global warming remains dangerously low on the political agenda. And where protection of “emitting” fossil fuels industries remains a priority.
There is nothing new here – either in the gravity of the warming events or in the clear warnings of their consequences. A century ago, ecologist and philosopher, Aldo Leopold, said, “The hope of the future lies… in creating a better understanding of the extent of [human] influence and a new ethic for its governance.”
The proven impact of global warming on the health of children is both a disaster and a potentially game-changing wake-up call.
Independent Senator David Pocock has very recently (2024) attempted to put forward a bill to legislate in the Australian Federal Parliament a duty of care towards children and young people, predicated upon the proven risks of climate change and the effects on health and wellbeing, with a proposed amendment specifying mental health impacted via widespread knowledge of a failure of governments globally to act effectively to protect against global warming consequences.
To quote Senator Pocock: “In the midst of a climate crisis, there is no legislated duty of care to protect Australian children from the harms of climate change. Key decision makers are not even able to consider the impact of huge fossil fuel projects on the health and wellbeing of children and future generations – an astonishing omission, and one that endangers our children’s futures.”
In a nation already experiencing extreme weather events, and heavily impacted by fossil fuels lobbyists and industries, a legislated duty of care is urgently needed. To quote the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP), “…the health of a child born today will be defined by climate change”.
The lack of support so far for Senator Pocock’s bill cannot halt the urgency of the need for effective preventative action. In fact, the pushback from the Government and the Coalition amplifies the need for greater focus from those dealing daily with children and young people’s health and wellbeing, including their mental health and the social and moral determinants of health for our youngest and most vulnerable citizens.
The Academy of Child and Adolescent Health (ACAH) unreservedly supports Senator Pocock’s Bill and the immediate need for a legislated duty of care, putting, as the Senator expresses it, “…the health and wellbeing of children and future generations where it belongs, at the forefront of decisions on large emitting projects.”
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