Perth Voice Interactive

A GROUP of doctors concerned about WA’s response to the environmental and health implications of climate change are holding a meet-the-candidate evening leading up to the March state election.

GP Tim Leahy is a member of Doctors for the Environment Australia and said the evening would give locals the opportunity to ask candidates the “big questions” as well as drilling down to local issues such as tree canopy coverage in their electorate.

“We are hoping the candidates will be able to provide a statement on the environment, climate and health, but we are non-partisan,” Dr Leahy said.

Gas industry

He expects WA’s gas industry will be a hot topic given moves to create an expanded LNG hub on the Burrup Peninsula and applications to frack in the Kimberley, but Labor’s Mt Lawley candidate Frank Paolino has indicated he won’t be attending and will instead provide written answers to questions from DFEA.

Dr Leahy said along with climate experts, his colleagues were hoping to see decarbonising ramping up in WA rather than an expanded gas industry, and says the state is also falling behind in measures that could reduce bills for the average householder while helping the environment and improving their health.

“There are people with housing stress, and cost-of-living issues, and we see other states with incentives to go electric, and we don’t see it here.

“People don’t realise that gas use is bad for health outcomes, such as increased rates of asthma.

“Deaths from gas, coal and oil exceed deaths from smoking,” he said, adding that was a global measure that took into account pollution, more frequent storms, heat stress and other effects of a warming climate.

“New housing should be built to better standards, so they should be insulated and electrified.”

Dr Leahy said it was an interest in ADHD and the struggle families can have getting a diagnosis and treatment for their children that sparked his interest in stepping out of the surgery and into activism.

Reflecting

“Then someone asked me to help out with some climate stuff, and as I was reflecting and reading more, I started thinking about my responsibility as a parent with two teenage boys.

“I started to think that what is being passed on is degraded; second-hand with a lot of debt.

“There is a concern in WA that we are captured by the fossil fuel industry and I would like our politicians to feel captured by the concerns of the kids and their future.”

The meet-the-candidate evening is being held on Thursday January 30 at the Inglewood Hotel from 6.30-8pm, with veteran news anchor Peter Kennedy MC. Tickets are free, but the venue has limited seating, so book ahead through Humanitix.

by STEVE GRANT