Extreme heat and weather caused by climate change are rapidly making the Northern Territory an unliveable environment for people, requiring urgent response from government, says the Climate Justice Alliance NT (CJA NT).
CJA NT members representing organisations from key sectors including health, housing, social services, land councils, environment, law, research, and the arts, today came together to deliver a joint statement to the office of Lingiari MP Marion Scrymgour, to mark National Extreme Heat Awareness Day.
The joint statement responds to the findings of the National Climate Risk Assessment (NCRA), outlining the high-risk scenario it presents for the Northern Territory, and the need for urgent and coordinated action (listed over page).
“Immediate action is needed from all levels of government, to invest in justice-centred, community-led adaptation planning, and drastically curb emissions. We hope that a response and following action comes as quickly as this urgent situation demands,” says Ned Bible, Climate Justice Project Officer NT, at Jesuit Social Services.
A lack of meaningful action to protect Territorians from a crisis that is a direct and immediate risk to human life has CJA NT member organisations alarmed that the NT will soon become unliveable, by as soon as 2070 in the Top End.
“As it stands, we are deeply concerned that the inaction from the Federal and Territory governments will effectively leave the Northern Territory and particularly the Top End uninhabitable by 2070,” Dr Bible says.
“It is difficult to imagine how communities in the north will survive, let alone thrive, without an urgent, coordinated, locally-led response.”
While the impacts of extreme heat and climate-driven weather events are felt across the Territory, they are not experienced equally. Climate change amplifies existing inequities, with structural disadvantage, historical injustice, and socioeconomic vulnerability compounding risk for many communities.
As the NCRA notes ‘Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples disproportionately experience the effects of climate change’, reflecting longstanding disparities in housing, infrastructure, health, and access to decision making. A climate justice approach recognises these unequal burdens and emphasises the need for responses that centre self-determination, address systemic drivers of vulnerability, and ensure those most affected have the power and resources to shape solutions.
“Heat is a social justice issue” says NTCOSS Senior Policy Officer Caitlin Perry. “People already facing disadvantage are more likely to live in poor quality housing and have the least resources to adapt to increasing climate risks.”
In addition to these direct risks, the NCRA highlights that climate change will intensify pressure on essential systems across the Territory. Rising temperatures and more frequent extreme weather will place added pressure on already limited infrastructure including housing and supply chains, transport and disrupt local economies including small business, tourism, and the workforce, and will place an added burden on water resources, energy infrastructure, and household budgets.
“Extreme heat is deadly, and Governments at all levels are failing to keep Territorians safe and our unique and precious environments healthy,” says ALEC’s Policy and Advocacy Coordinator Alex Vaughan.
Along with detailing the assessment of risks to the Territory, the joint statement calls on government to:
- Urgently invest in and support community-based climate adaptation planning, particularly for Aboriginal communities who are most at risk
- Build on the previous work undertaken by CSIRO in identifying Central Australia as a key case study for climate adaptation work
- Reinstate net zero and renewable energy targets in the Northern Territory
- Enact Original Power’s call for exemptions to electricity disconnections once temperatures reach 40 degrees
- Enact the National Adaptation Plan, which accompanies the NCRA
- Ensure that Commonwealth funding for housing comes with the condition that new builds must meet 7 star energy efficient building standards
- Retrofit low income housing to improve thermal performance.
Purple House CEO, Sarah Brown:
“Purple House delivers life‑saving dialysis on Country in some of Australia’s most remote communities. Extreme heat directly threatens our ability to provide this care, our services rely on secure, high quality water supplies and water temperatures that are cool enough to safely run dialysis. As heatwaves become more intense and more frequent, climate change is not just an environmental issue, it’s a critical health issue for our patients.”
ALEC Policy and Advocacy Coordinator Alex Vaughan
“We need urgent support for local climate adaptation planning, funding for community-led and culturally appropriate climate-preparedness communications, and co-designed solutions to support the wellbeing and liveability of central desert communities. Climate justice must not just support, but empower local communities to lead and shape their climate-impacted future.”
Environment Centre NT’s Executive Director, Dr Kirsty Howey:
“The Finocchiaro Government has taken the axe to climate policy, and it’s communities across the Territory that will suffer the consequences. We must immediately move away from polluting fossil fuels to an economy based on renewable energy. Net zero and renewable energy targets must be reinstated.”
