‘No way to escape the heat’: Push for havens to stop Australia’s ‘silent killer’

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Western Sydney University researcher Thomas Longden says heatwaves are a “silent killer”; they are responsible for about 2 per cent of deaths in Australia, but that toll goes largely unnoticed. Heatwaves are also set to get more frequent and more intense with climate change.

“Other jurisdictions are ahead of us,” he says. “They see future heatwaves as being very different heatwaves to what they have experienced in the past. We’re more complacent, perhaps because we expect summer to be hot.”

He says short, sharp events – where the temperature rises rapidly over just a few days – are the most dangerous and authorities need to start preparing communities for heatwaves like they do for other natural disasters, warning vulnerable groups and ensuring residents have somewhere safe to shelter.

“The assumption is that we have a lot more airconditioning [in Australia] so people are safe, but that isn’t always true for some socioeconomic groups, and there is also a hesitancy to turn it on, especially with electricity costs.”