Australians for Mental Health is urging all governments to take steps to slow climate change, after the first national climate risk assessment warned of the associated impacts on mental health.
The assessment outlines how extreme heat, floods, bushfires, poor air quality and shifting disease patterns escalate health risks, including mental health and wellbeing.
"The mental health risk cannot be underestimated. When disasters pile on, so do the harms to people's minds, families and communities. Climate policy is mental health policy, and the test now is whether governments move fast enough to protect people's wellbeing," Australians for Mental Health Executive Director Chris Gambian said.
"Too many Australians have faced climate disasters already. We need to ensure those communities have the support they need before and after these climate challenges. The right mental health action builds community resilience and disaster mitigation."
The report also noted those who worked outside would be at greater risk from the changing climate, including the effects of extreme heat.
"Ensuring people have safe workplaces is critical. For those working in hotter conditions, we must make sure our workplace laws protect them, such as our farmers, tradies and construction workers.
"Mental health and wellbeing must be at the centre of everything we do; it is not just a health issue, it is fundamental to how we live, work and play."
Australians for Mental Health has been calling for a national Wellbeing Commissioner and a Wellbeing Act to ensure all arms of government are accountable for ensuring their policy decisions don't adversely affect mental health.
The grassroots organisation has also urged leaders and decision makers to invest in local places and programs long before clinical care is needed such as libraries, pools and community hubs that can also double as cooling, clean-air and recovery spaces.
