Doctors for the Environment (DEA) are calling for certainty on Australia's net zero by 2050 emissions reduction target, amid mixed messages from the Coalition.
DEA deputy chair Dr Kimberly Humphrey said Australia needed strong climate policy to improve the health of all Australians.
"Heat-related deaths and other health issues associated with climate change are severely impacting the health and wellbeing of communities around Australia.
"Children born today are likely to face seven times more extreme weather events than their grandparents," Dr Humphrey said.
A recent Australia Institute survey showed that fossil fuels were costing Australia $22,000 per minute.
Dr Humphrey said that the subsidies for fossil fuels noted in the survey showed that the cost of $11.6 billion in 2021-22 was across federal, state and territory governments.
She said it marks a 12 per cent increase on the 2021-2022 total of $10.3 billion after the federal government increased subsidies to the tune of $1.4 billion.
Dr Humphrey said this was not a firm commitment to net zero.
She was responding to comments made in Queensland by Liberal National Party candidate for the seat of Flynn Colin Boyce, who said that net zero was a flexible plan. Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce added that the government's commitment to net zero was not binding, with no legislation attached to previous promises of net zero.
