Ms CHARISHMA KALIYANDA (Liverpool) (17:44):
Global warming has led to higher summer temperatures across Sydney over the past 30 years. However, data analysis by researchers at the University of Technology Sydney shows that very hot summer days are becoming much more common in Western Sydney than in coastal Sydney. These hotter summers are also getting longer. Although January and February are usually the warmest months, this now extends from December to March. Just this week we have had a string of days with temperatures reaching 30 to 35 degrees Celsius, the first total fire ban across the State in three years and a formal declaration that we are in an El Niño cycle. Summers are expanding and winters shrinking across subtropical and temperate Australia. Furthermore, very hot days have become more common over the past 30 years in Western Sydney but not near the coast. The difference in maximum temperatures between the regions can be as much as 10 degrees Celsius.
Temperature data from 1962 to 2021 shows that one in 10 days in summer reached temperatures of 35.4 degrees Celsius or more in Western Sydney. That is a full five degrees hotter than near the coast, where one in 10 days exceeded 30 degrees Celsius. One in 20 days reached 37.8 degrees Celsius or more in the west; the equivalent figure near the coast was 33 degrees Celsius. Despite the importance of rising temperatures in Sydney, particularly in Western Sydney, there has been little focus on some of the factors that are driving this change. Western Sydney is home to more than 2.5 million people. Economic development and a fast‑growing population have led to higher concentrations of buildings and man‑made surfaces, which absorb and retain more heat. Known as the urban heat island effect, this compounds the impacts of climate change.
Development on this scale also presents complex challenges for policy planning and resource management. Identifying the climate drivers that most influence maximum temperatures is crucial for Sydney's planning. It matters to infrastructure development, health and socio‑economic wellbeing, particularly in Western Sydney. Two-thirds of Sydney's population growth by 2036 is projected to be in Western Sydney. By then, an estimated 3.5 million residents will be exposed to more extreme summer heat. The escalating climate crisis is widening Sydney's health and socio‑economic divide. Western Sydney has higher unemployment and a larger proportion of lower income families than the rest of the city. Some of Sydney's hottest schools have no trees and barely any shade to provide refuge for students and teachers in soaring temperatures. Researchers from Western Sydney University used data to rank the 100 hottest schools and found that over 10 per cent of them were located in three suburbs: Liverpool, Merrylands and Granville.
Heat has a significant impact on learning. Research has found that each increase of half a degree Celsius over a school year reduced performance in final exams by one per cent. Air conditioning corrects all the damaging effects. However, air conditioning classrooms and schools was a flashpoint for debate, promises and inaction under the former New South Wales Government. Prior to the 2019 election, the former Government took just months to approve 900 schools for air conditioning but then took almost three years to reject the vast majority of schools that applied in the second round of the Cooler Classrooms Program. Schools in areas where the average annual temperature was more than 30 degrees Celsius automatically qualified for the program, although some with lower average temperatures were also approved in the first round of applications. However, this did not include several schools in Liverpool whose applications were rejected despite average temperatures reaching close to 30 degrees Celsius.
As I have spoken with schools and community organisations around Liverpool, it has become obvious that south‑west Sydney has been systematically ignored for school infrastructure funding over the past decade. Whether it is air conditioning or building schools and classrooms to cater for our fast‑growing population, it is heartbreaking that our children missed out, either due to political design or incompetence. That is why I am glad that the first Labor budget in 12 years seeks to redress this. Our communities deserve resources and infrastructure based on need rather than political expedience. I commend the Minns Labor Government for ensuring that young people in south‑west Sydney communities are the ones who will benefit into the future.
