MEDIA RELEASE
April 27th 2007

ALP urged to recognise climate refugees

On the first day of the Labor Party’s national conference, Friends of the Earth Australia calls on ALP delegates to put in place their policy proposals to accept climate refugees in Australia.

The ALP discussion paper ‘Our Drowning Neighbours’, released last year by Federal MPs Bob Sercombe and Anthony Albanese, proposes that Australia establish an international coalition to accept climate refugees and work at the UN to recognise climate refugees in new or existing conventions. The strategy outlined in the paper includes providing assistance for adaptation and emergency response efforts.

“By implementing these policy proposals, Australia would be leading the way in climate change policy that acknowledges and responds to the protection of human rights” said Friends of the Earth Australia Climate Justice spokesperson, Emma Brindal.

“As one of the highest per capita greenhouse gas emitters, Australia is disproportionately responsible for climate change. Therefore, Australia needs to take responsibility for the impacts of this by creating a separate category for climate refugees, and establishing a quota system to
allow a set number of climate refugees to come to Australia each year” said Ms Brindal.

“The ALP’s discussion paper also proposes that Australia provide assistance with intra-country relocations. This is an essential part of a broad climate change response, as some Pacific Islanders are already being displaced from their homes and lack adequate support to relocate” said Ms Brindal.

“When it's high tide in Tuvalu, roads are covered with sea water and people have water all through their houses up to knee height” says Fatima Hakaoro, Chairperson of the Tuvaluan Association of Brisbane.

“In Tuvalu, there have already been two particularly high tides this year, one only two weeks ago. The most recent high tide forced some people from their homes who had to seek shelter at the Red Cross. If sea levels continue to rise, so too will the number of high tides and the number of people needing to leave their homes and communities” said Ms Brindal.

“Australia must do all that it can to minimise the number of people forced from their homes. It is therefore our responsibility to make deep cuts to our greenhouse emissions. Labor’s promise to cut emissions by 60% by 2050 falls short of the necessary cuts” said Ms Brindal.

“We need to see a commitment to reducing emissions by 95% by 2050, with short term cuts in line with this target. If the ALP is to demonstrate an adequate response to climate change, they will need to commit more funding to renewable energy and signal a shift away from coal” said Ms Brindal.

The ALP discussion paper is available at:
http://www.anthonyalbanese.com.au/file.php?file=/news/940/index.html

More information: Emma Brindal: (07) 3846 5793 ; 0411 084 727

Note:
1 At the time of the release of the ALP discussion paper, Bob Sercombe was the Shadow Minister for Overseas Aid and Pacific Island Affairs and Anthony Albanese was the Shadow Minister for the Environment.