Take Action: Make your voice heard
Help us get this report in front of every politician in the country and create the change we want to see!
Kids, more than adults, need a comfortable environment to thrive and stay healthy. Every parent and every place of education deserves to be able to run their air-conditioner and have access to bill-busting rooftop solar energy. To achieve this will require a once-in-a-generation policy change. Will you share our Report with your MP and help build support needed to create heat-wave safe communities?
Scroll down for more info on how to email this report to your local representatives >>
Our report, Hothouse Australia: Our kids at risk as heat soars, shows the devastating impact of extreme heat on families and the difficult choices families face in hot summers.
Key findings
1. Our children are feeling the worst impacts of heat
Kids are physiologically less able to regulate their temperatures than adults, and they experience adverse effects from heat at lower temperatures.
2. The spiralling cost of living is forcing families to switch off
The high cost of cooling Australia’s poorly insulated and energy-inefficient homes is causing families to switch off their cooling appliances at record levels.
3. Renting in Australia is becoming a heat hazard
Renters are disproportionately exposed to the negative effects of low energy efficiency housing and low-quality cooling devices, coupled with restrictions on the modifications they can make to their homes and some landlords that are unwilling to make their properties more thermally safe.
4. School is not a guaranteed refuge from heat at home
Learning outcomes decrease by about 1.5% with each 2°C increase in temperature above 24°C. Yet there is no coordinated program across Australian governments to provide adequately cooled schools and early child learning centres.
5. Australian governments have a critical role in managing the health and social risks of heat
While the National Health and Climate Strategy is a welcome development, there is no cohesive or comprehensive approach to managing climate-based health risks from Australian Governments.
Help us get this report in front of every politician in the country and create the change we want to see!
Every family should be safe in their own home. You can make this happen by contacting your MP to support heatwave-safe homes now.
People die in the heat. In fact, heatwaves are Australia’s deadliest natural disaster, killing more people than floods, storms, and fire combined.
We already know the solutions. Homes can be made safe and comfortable while reducing emissions through interventions such as insulation, solar panels, and reverse-cycle air conditioning. As temperatures soar, these simple steps would not only save energy but also save lives.
We need a plan to upgrade homes and create climate safe homes and communities, and we’re calling for our federal government to lead the way to solve this national crisis.
Follow the guides below for Australian representatives
With the federal election on the horizon, now is the time to ask our federal government to step up and help secure climate safe homes for all families.
Read the report, or take action below.
Take Action
Your Member of Parliament was elected to represent your community: Help put this report in front of your federal MP.
Step 1
Find your federal Member of Parliament's contact details. You can find your MP's details here!
Step 2
Get this report on their radar. You can do this by:
- calling them,
- emailing them,
- visiting them,
or all of the above!
Step 3
Let us know how you go. Take 1 minute to tell us about your experience. This will help us follow up and track progress with your MP.
Remember: Always keep it friendly
Parents for Climate seeks to build long-term and constructive relationships with our leaders, not by shouting from the rooftops. And remember, most MP's are parents as well!
Here’s a draft email you could use:
Dear (your MP's name) MP,
I am writing to you today about the serious danger that summer heatwaves pose to everyday Australian families and how the federal government has an opportunity to respond.
With global warming, extreme heatwaves are expected to become worse each year, and during this summer several cities have experienced multiple 40+°C days. Heat waves kill more people in Australia than fire, floods and storms combined.
Despite the dangers of extreme heat, millions of people across the country live in homes that simply can't stand the heat. Australia has over 760,000 children living in poverty, and research finds that around 3 in 4 lower-income households are likely to cut back on the use of air conditioning due to cost pressures.
We urgently need a national plan to not only survive this summer, but to cut energy costs and prepare for the extreme heat we will experience in the years ahead.
Parents for Climate, in conjunction with Sweltering Cities, has detailed these issues and outlined the necessary policy responses in a new report; Hothouse Australia: Out Kids at Risk as Heat Soars. This can be read in full at ParentsForClimate.org/Hothouse_Australia_Report.
Our federal government must lead the way to solve this national crisis and ensure that every home is heatwave-safe, starting with those who are most vulnerable to extreme heat.
We already know the solutions. Homes can be made safe and comfortable while reducing emissions through interventions such as insulation, solar panels, and reverse-cycle air conditioning. As temperatures soar, these simple steps would not only save energy but also save lives.
To facilitate this, I ask you to raise these shared concerns with Ministers Bowen and McAllister, and ask them how our government is ensuring all Australians can afford to be safe from extreme heat in their own homes.
I look forward to your reply.
You can read the report in full here.
I look forward to hearing your response
Kind regards,
(your name)
(your street and suburb)