Legislative Council Fifty-First Parliament, Third Session (51-3) 51 3 Parliament of South Australia Legislative Council published Matters of Interest Heatwave HEATWAVE The Hon. M. PARNELL Legislative Council The Hon. M. PARNELL (15:55): I want to talk about the weather, and it seems that most people in South Australia are talking about the weather. What I want to talk about in particular is our preparedness, not just for this current heatwave but also for the next and the one after that and the one after that, because the climate experts are predicting that, with climate change, we will get more severe and more frequent weather extremes. This current heatwave is really a massive wake-up call to South Australia, first, in relation to our preparedness and, secondly, in relation to the action that we need to take to mitigate climate change. We knew that a heatwave such as this was inevitable. We had one last year, and we have had one this year—we need to be prepared. However, the ability of our physical and social infrastructure to cope with a heatwave such as the one that we are in is still sadly lacking, and it shows that our state is very unready. In relation to health, the loss of life has been devastating. We have had today an announcement from the minister reporting 600 presentations to hospital that are heat-related. We know that in Europe in August 2003, in their heatwave, 35,000 people died. We know that the undertakers in France were obliged to hire cool rooms on the outskirts of Paris to cope with the bodies as a result of that heatwave where it got to—wait for it!—40 degrees, and yet we have had that temperature for, I think, five days in a row and we look like having 12 or more days in a row over 35, so we need to be prepared. It is not just a question of sending text messages on mobile phones. Every member of my family got a text message. The sentiment was clearly worth expressing—we should look out for our neighbours and elderly relatives—but I will be very interested to see the analysis of how effective that SMS campaign was. In relation to transport, we know that our trains suffer when it comes to hot weather. No doubt the government will tell us that, when it does the infrastructure work over the next several years, it will heat proof our rail system. However, you would have to ask yourself: will it heat proof the trains infrastructure the way it has heat proofed our tram system? The new trams do not work in the heat. We have dragged out of mothballs 60, 70, 80 year old trams because they can cope with the heat. We need to prioritise public transport spending and we need to always bear in mind that that service is going to be operating in extreme weather conditions. My personal experience on the trains was that, on the very first hot day, TransAdelaide was unprepared and its communication was appalling. People were sitting in carriages not knowing whether their train was coming or going. TransAdelaide improved over the days. The following day, people were there handing out bottled water, and I do not know whether anyone noticed the brand of water that was being handed out at the railway station. It was called Neverfail, and I am sure that there is someone in the buying department of TransAdelaide who had a good laugh over that because, certainly, Neverfail does not apply to our trains and trams. When it comes to our energy policy, we need to focus even more on reducing demand rather than simply trying to augment supply. Building yet another coal-fired power station is not the answer to the energy woes that we face. We know that the Premier will be writing to NEMMCO asking it to review the way that it does things—one of the most specific requests I have ever seen from a Premier—in relation to load shedding, for example. The Premier would do well to back the call of the Total Environment Centre in Sydney focusing on demand management because NEMMCO has rejected those calls. NEMMCO is saying, 'No; we're interested in supply; we're not interested in the demand side of the equation.' An emphasis on solar panels would have helped, because at the very time that we are indoors with our airconditioners running, what are we doing? We are sheltering from solar radiation that is falling on barren rooftops. It was very rich of the government to suggest to people that they switch off their airconditioners early in the heat wave. That was very poor advice, particularly for the elderly and for young people. In relation to the federal government's announcement of insulation bonuses, I want to see the state government do much more about insulation for rental properties and start especially with Housing Trust properties, many of which remain uninsulated.