Leaders have met with parliamentarians on Extreme Heat Awareness Day to demand a proactive national policy to address the accelerating heat crisis in Australia.
A national day of action on Extreme Heat Awareness Day on February 4, was led by Sweltering Cities and Australian Red Cross, alongside the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU), the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation (ANMF), the Australian Medical Association and the Australian Local Government Association, with events held around the country over the next few days.
Extreme heat causes more deaths in Australia than bushfires, cyclones, and floods combined – and is a major public health threat that strains health systems during heatwaves and in the days that follow.
The alliance is calling for coordinated national action to protect workers and communities from escalating heat hazards driven by climate change.
ANMF Federal Climate Change Officer Catelyn Richards was a panelist on the Sweltering Cities webinar today, alongside Sweltering Cities Executive Director Emma Bacon, Lead of the Urban Climate Resilience Program at Australian Red Cross Eilish Maguire and Dr Sue Heatley from Adelaide University.
“In the recent heatwaves, community nurses were reporting 50-degree temperatures in their cars on multiple days in a row when they’re out in the community providing care.”
Some health facilities without air conditioning had also led to health professionals being affected by extreme heat, she said.
“The disruptions that we’re seeing in the health system are incredibly profound. Health professionals are incredibly resilient, but we really need resilient policy and systems that support us to do the work that we want to be able to do.”
National safety rules for heatwaves
Australian Unions have called for new national safety rules that require employers to stop work or modify duties when temperatures reach dangerous levels, warning that increasingly frequent heatwaves driven by climate change now pose a major workplace health and safety threat.
“We regulate asbestos and silica because they kill people and devastate families. It’s time we treat climate hazards like extreme heat in the same way. There is no excuse for Australia to leave workers exposed without clear, enforceable rules, especially when the government’s own reports project heat-related deaths to more than quadruple in our major cities,” said ACTU President Michele O’Neil.
The Commonwealth’s 2025 National Climate Risk Assessment projects heat-related deaths in major cities will more than quadruple without change – rising 444% in Sydney, 423% in Darwin, 312% in Perth, and 259% in Melbourne.
Researchers are calling for emergency departments to start planning immediately for an influx of patients during these periods. With heatwaves expected to become more frequent and intense it is time to prepare, said co-author of a study exploring the impact of heatwaves on emergency departments, Hannah Mason, public health researcher at James Cook University.
“Heatwaves increase the risk of heat stress-related conditions and exacerbate pre-existing illnesses such as heart and kidney disease. They are the deadliest natural hazard both globally and in Australia, causing more deaths than all other hazards combined.”
JCU researchers examined Queensland Emergency Department (ED) presentations from 1 January 2010 to 31 December 2019, across demographic, clinical and temporal dimensions.
They found a 10% increase in ED presentations on heatwave days compared to non-heatwave days, with the strongest effect during extreme heatwaves where the increase was nearly 23%.
The statistics were even worse outside the cities where people in very remote areas experienced a more than 54% rise in ED visits.
The study found that people of all ages and sex were at risk, with presentations rising across most diagnostic categories, underscoring the broad health effects of extreme heat.
“It’s obvious that EDs must prepare for higher patient volumes as heatwaves becoming longer, more frequent and more severe,” said Ms Mason.
With variable effects across location, diagnosis and time, there is a need for targeted preparedness and mitigation strategies, particularly for vulnerable and remote communities, she said.
Temperature records have been broken in January as multiple dangerous heatwaves crossed the country. Pollution from coal and gas was driving longer, more dangerous heatwaves and more heat deaths, said Executive Director of Sweltering Cities Emma Bacon.
“The urban heat island effect is making our suburbs unsafe, trapping heat in our streets and homes long after the sun goes down. This isn’t just ‘another hot summer’; it’s a public health emergency that disproportionately affects those in hot homes, insecure workers, and our most vulnerable neighbours.”
“We are calling on the government to safeguard the health of present and future generations by urgently reducing the fossil fuel pollution making these heatwaves more frequent and severe. We need leadership that moves beyond emergency response to proactive solutions that cool our communities.
“Safe homes, cool suburbs, support for the people most at risk and a commitment to preventing future warming will save thousands of lives in the decades to come.”
Sweltering Cities is hosting the nation’s largest Extreme Heat Awareness Day event on the 5th of February (the day after) in Parramatta.
