Economic concerns frame much of the public debate around climate change policy in general and carbon pricing in particular. But these are also critical public health issues.

So what does the health sector think of the carbon tax announced yesterday?

Below are some edited responses.

These “first steps” are a welcome investment in health

Michael Moore and Professor Helen Keleher from the Public Health Association of Australia say:

“Climate change will have a devastating impact on health from changing patterns of vector-borne diseases and heat impacts on the elderly and vulnerable, through to food and water security, and death and injury from severe weather events. There is extensive support from health experts for action on climate change. The Lancet in 2009 emphasised the need for urgent action, while the WHO in its 2009 report, Protecting health from climate change called for human health to be at the heart of all environment and development decisions. These first steps by the Australian government are the most difficult but they are a good beginning. Our community may well require stronger action in the future than the proposed $23 per tonne from next year. The reality is that actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions will not only reduce climate risk and environmental harm but will also improve health outcomes and reduce health costs. The package therefore represents an investment in health outcomes as well as the environment.”

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It’s time for health professions to rally around the patient

Dr David Shearman, honorary secretary of the Doctors for the Environment Australia, says:

“Doctors for the Environment Australia regards a price on carbon as a public health measure, for climate change is one of the greatest health threats of our time. After 20 or more years of prevarication, we have a first small but significant step to effectively reduce carbon emissions and to change our consumptive economy and lifestyle into a sustainable one. The Prime Minister is on the front foot, the proposals are comprehensive and should be supported and built on. This is not the death knell of Australian civilisation and industry that some have claimed but a way forward to their resurgence. In medical terms, the patient is still in intensive care, the relatives and doctors have been milling around the bed debating the treatment, wasting time while the patient deteriorates: the cost of treatment is great, we may have to sell the house, let others contribute, let’s go and plant trees — as a memorial. But at last we have a decision! We have put in a drip, given some intravenous fluid and prolonged life whilst we get our act together and concentrate on the patient rather than ourselves. To those poor souls who have not worked out who the patient is, they are standing on it.”

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Health professionals need to engage with this debate

Fiona Armstrong, a Fellow of the Centre for Policy Development and Founder and Convener of the Climate and Health Alliance, says:

“At its core, climate change is a health issue. Around 300,000 people are dying each year from climate change. Around five million more will die in the coming decade if we fail to act effectively. The bulk of the climate health burden (over 80%) falls on children — that’s right, children, who are powerless to say ‘stop, we choose a different future’. Despite the declaration in The Lancet in 2009 that ‘climate change is the biggest threat to global public health of the 21st century’, health professionals have so far failed to respond in ways that are proportionate to risk. Public health experts describe a wearied tolerance from other health colleagues when they hold forth on climate change — as though it were some sort of personal hobbyhorse whereas others in different parts of the sector are ‘busy saving lives’ and ‘don’t have time for this sort of indulgence’. Well, that’s regrettable because climate change will eclipse all other threats to health in the coming decades if we don’t turn our attention to finding solutions to the biggest threat there is. Advocating for action on climate change is possibly the biggest contribution health professionals can make to global public health.”

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