As we share knowledge, learning and research within this submission, we also pay respect to the knowledge embedded forever within the Aboriginal Custodianship of Country.

This submission addresses the Terms of Reference of the inquiry of the Senate Select Committee on COVID-19, namely:

a. the Australian Government's response to the COVID-19 pandemic; and

b. any related matters.

We start by introducing Extinction Rebellion (XR) Grey Power Victoria (section 1 ​ ​ below) and then consider the scientific basis for recognising that emergency action ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ on the climate crisis is imperative (section 2). We include discussing some of the opportunities for the government to use the recovery period from COVID-19 to st recreate an economy fit-for-purpose in the 21 ​ century, one that is based on ​ renewables. We see the opportunity here for Australia to become a renewable energy superpower by using its outstanding renewable energy resources. The final section (section 3) in our submission outlines our concerns with the National ​ COVID-19 Coordination Commission and our recommendations for changes in its structure and operations to improve accountability and transparency.

1. Extinction Rebellion (XR) Grey Power Victoria ​ Extinction Rebellion (XR) is a movement of people who care deeply about our current climate and ecological crises. This submission comes from the XR Grey Power Victoria group (people aged over 50) and has been written by a multidisciplinary group including people with extensive careers in: public health, health promotion, child psychology, community psychology, permaculture, horticulture and geology.

We form a knowledgeable, skilled, committed and concerned group of older people. Our aim is to stimulate action to address the climate emergency and the devastation of the natural environment. The contributors to this submission are listed in an Appendix at the end of this submission. We are affiliated with local, state, national and international Extinction Rebellion (XR) groups, and part of the movement which is working towards international recognition of the urgent work needed to prevent and ameliorate climate change and its associated natural disasters. These disasters include species extinction, coral bleaching, bushfires and increasingly-extreme weather events (to name a few). XR Grey Power Victoria was formed to acknowledge

2 the significant contribution that older people can make in the race against time with the current climate crisis. Significantly the group formed just prior to the bushfires that destroyed hundreds of thousands of hectares of native vegetation and killed over a billion native animals.

The horror of the bushfires in 2019 and 2020 revealed the reality of global warming, through the destruction of communities and the natural environment, and their impact on our economy and physical and mental health. The current world pandemic of Covid-19 reveals the interconnected world we all, even on our island, now inhabit, and how it and global warming exert socio-economic and health threats on our way of life.

These two existential threats and our responses to them over the coming decade provide an extraordinary opportunity for Australia to create a thriving, sustainable future, where our children and grandchildren, 10 years older, will be living in a country that acknowledges and protects our unique environment, integrates Indigenous knowledge into the care of our land, and respects, listens to and acts on science.

We now know that our politicians can act quickly, effectively and collaboratively in the national and international interest as they have done with the 2020 pandemic. In the face of a serious health threat, politicians can heed the best scientific advice, listen to it and act upon it in Australia’s best interest. Our measure of success is that currently deaths from COVID-19 in Australia stand at 103. This stands in stark contrast to the toll from the 2019-2020 fire season. Nearly 80 percent of Australians ​ were affected either directly or indirectly by the bushfires1 . Thirty-three Australians lost their lives and an estimated 417 more died from the burden of toxic smoke2 . At least one billion animals were killed by the bushfires3 .

With recent, new and significant changes to the Australian psyche, future policy must be designed to ensure that immediate action to safeguard our environment

1 Biddle N, Edwards B, Herz D, and Makkai T (2020) Exposure and the Impact on Attitudes of ​ the 2019-20 Australian Bushfires.” ANU Centre for Social Research and Methods. 2 Borchers Arriagada N, Palmer AJ, Bowman DMJS, Morgan GG, Jalaludin BB, Johnston FH. Unprecedented smoke-related health burden associated with the 2019–20 bushfires in eastern Australia. Medical Journal of Australia. 2020. Climate Council. 2020a. “Summer of Crisis.” https://www.climatecouncil.org.au/resources/summer-of-crisis/. 3 University of Sydney. 2020. “More than One Billion Animals Impacted in Australian Bushfires.” Media ​ release. https://sydney.edu.au/news-opinion/news/2020/01/08/australianbushfires- more-than-one-billion-animals-impacted.html

3 and biodiversity cannot be subverted by the politicisation of climate science. Rather, it must use scientists’ research and Indigenous knowledge to guide all future decisions about our environment and also accord these fields of knowledge the same respect and influence in decision making that has been appropriately and effectively afforded to our medical scientists in the current pandemic.

Many of us fall into groups that are especially vulnerable to COVID-19, and we have appreciated how Australia’s response to the pandemic has been shaped to protect us and other vulnerable groups. As we turn to the important task of moving out of the lockdown, we think it important that our responses are informed by science and designed to protect future generations, those who will bear the brunt of climate and ecological emergencies into the future, if we do not act to ameliorate global warming as much as possible. The next 5-10 years are crucial. The COVID-19 pandemic and resulting economic disruption provide a unique opportunity for the Government to show strong leadership. An opportunity to take up this challenge and rebuild the economy by leading our nation through an emergency 10-year transition to a net zero emissions economy, accompanied by measures to draw down carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Practical plans detailing the necessary changes in all sectors of our economy are available. We need strong, courageous leadership to implement these changes at full speed.

2. What the science tells us about the current climate emergency and implications for recovery from COVID-19

At the beginning of this year, the latest Bulletin from the Atomic Scientists warned

“Climate change that could devastate the planet is undeniably happening. And ​ for a variety of reasons that include a corrupted and manipulated media environment, democratic governments and other institutions that should be working 4 to address these threats have failed to rise to the challenge.” ​ Their Doomsday clock stands closer than ever before to midnight, expressing the urgency of the challenge posed by the climate emergency, also echoed in the article 5 published in Bioscience by 11,000 plus scientists .

4 It is 100 seconds to midnight 2020 Doomsday Clock Statement Science and Security Board Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, Editor, John Mecklin. 5 Ripple WJ et. al. (2020) World scientists’ warning of a climate emergency. BioScience, January 2020 / ​ ​ ​ Vol. 70 No. 1. Available at https://doi.org/10.1093/biosci/biz088 ​ ​

4 Despite some measures to cut carbon emissions (at well below the Paris Agreement requirements), levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere are continuing to climb, being at 416ppm in April 2020 – the last time levels were so high was over 1 million years ago, when trees were growing in the Antarctic. In line with the science of climate change, temperatures have increased in line with the CO2 increase, so far by a little over 1 degree C (1ºC).

Even with just this level of warming, we are already experiencing dangerous climate change, as illustrated by the bleaching of the Great Barrier Reef, unprecedented floods and the horrendous Black Summer bushfires in 2019-2020, along with a continuous litany of broken temperature records (e.g. 2019 was the hottest year on record for Australia). Overseas, millions of climate refugees are already fleeing droughts, extreme temperatures and rising sea levels, not only causing immense suffering but giving rise to an increase in racism, xenophobia and conflict in receiving countries. The UN Security Council, along with Defense Departments around the world, regard climate change as a ‘threat accelerant’ for intra- and inter-state conflict.

Major tipping points have already been triggered and others are close to being triggered, even with only 1ºC temperature rise. E.g. even in 2014, scientists had found that “the retreat of ice in the Amundsen Sea sector of West Antarctica was ​ unstoppable, with major consequences – it will mean that sea levels will rise 1 metre worldwide Its disappearance will likely trigger the collapse of the rest of the West … Antarctic ice sheet, which comes with a sea level rise of between 3–5 metres. Such an 6 event will displace millions of people worldwide”. Arctic tipping points have also 7 ​ been crossed for sea-ice-free summer conditions, with severe consequences for the future stability of permafrost and frozen methane stores.

It is therefore clear that “We have no carbon budget left for the +1.5 ºC target and the opportunity for holding to +2ºC is rapidly fading unless the world starts cutting 8 emissions hard right now” (Prof. Michael Mann). Bill McKibben has calculated that “Even if all of the world’s nations meet the pledges they made in the Paris accord, ​ carbon dioxide is currently on a path to hit 500 or 600 parts per million (ppm) by century’s end—a path if not to hell, then to someplace with a similar setting on the

6 Rignot, Mouginot et al (2014) "Widespread, rapid grounding line retreat of Pine Island, Thwaites, Smith, and Kohler glaciers, West Antarctica, from 1992 to 2011", Geophysical Research Letters 41:3502–3509. 7 Livina and Lenton (2013) “A recent tipping point in the Arctic sea-ice cover: abrupt and persistent increase in the seasonal cycle since 2007”, The Cryosphere 7:275-286; Maslowski, Kinney et al (2012) “The future of Arctic sea ice”, Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences 40:625–654 8 http://www.climatecodered.org/2016/03/mind-blowing-february-2016-temperature.html ​ 5 9 thermostat” . We have been warned by Prof. Kevin Anderson that: “Two degrees of ​ ​ warming would take us to climatic conditions unprecedented in the period of human 10 civilisation” . He says: “2ºC represents the threshold between dangerous and ​ ​ extremely dangerous, rather than between acceptable and dangerous climate change”. ​ We need comprehensive plans for making the transition to a sustainable global system: “that starts by determining what is necessary to achieve safe outcomes and ​ then backcasts to design and develop viable solutions. While this proactive ‘critical-safety’ approach is widely used to manage risk in complex industrial and military projects (e.g. aviation), it is not being used by governments to manage 11 climate risk.” ​ There is no choice but to leave coal, oil and gas in the ground. Regarding gas as a ‘transition fuel’ ignores the fact that we already have no carbon budget left. Carbon emissions must be reduced to zero within five to ten years, not several decades, and we must safely draw down the excess carbon dioxide already in the atmosphere. We must rapidly transition from coal, gas and oil to 100% renewable energy, replacing fossil fuel jobs with jobs in renewable energy and energy efficiency.

Fortunately, practical solutions to achieving this goal have been developed using proven technologies that are available at scale, and the government now has a unique opportunity to start acting at full speed to implement them. The economic turmoil created by the COVID-19 pandemic offers a unique opportunity to remake the Australian economy to make it fit-for-purpose for the 21st century, and address the climate emergency so as to ensure a liveable planet for future generations. What is required is a systemic whole-of-government approach based on already existing technologies that are both efficient and scalable. The comparative electricity ​ generation costs presented recently by Dan Nahum, Economist, Centre for Future 12 Work, Australia Institute demonstrate that solar/wind standalone and solar/wind - 2hrs battery storage outperform both coal and gas currently, while solar/wind -6hrs pumped hydro currently outperforms coal, and will shortly outperform gas as well (see figure 1).

9 http://www climatecodered org/2016/03/mind-blowing-february-2016-temperature html ​

10 Anderson and Bows (2011) “Beyond ‘dangerous’ climate change: emission scenarios for a new world”, Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A 369:20–44 11 A Realistic (Holistic) Approach to Climate Mitigation. ​ ​ http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/1946756716673640 12 Slide 5 from presentation given by Dan Nahum as part of webinar on 8 May 2020, available at: ​ https://nb.tai.org.au/webinar series 6 Figure 1 Author: Dan Nahum

Building a solid basis for future generations

The need for a massive economic stimulus is an ideal opportunity to design and fund a significant transition that must be made across all sectors of our society and economy to reduce the impacts of climate change. Any stimulus spending ​ announced by the government should include an assessment of the impacts of the spending on climate change. Stimulus spending should be required to either not exacerbate climate change at the least, and in the best case, should be required to mitigate climate change, in line with Australia’s commitment under the Paris ​ Agreement to keep global temperature rise below 1.5 degrees Celsius.

Andrew Steer, chief executive of the World Resources Institute, said: “As the world ​ looks to recover from the current health and economic crises, we face a choice: we can pursue a modern, clean, healthy energy system, or we can go back to the old, 13 polluting ways of doing business. We must choose the former.” ​

13 J. Ambrose, Speeding up investment could deliver huge gains to global GDP by 2050 while tackling climate emergency, says report. The Guardian, 20 Apr 2020. ​ ​ ​ ​ 7 Similar calls come from the International Renewable Energy Agency, arguing that renewable energy could power an economic recovery from COVID-19 by spurring global GDP gains of almost $100tn between now and 2050. Their latest Global 14 Outlook report presents a comprehensive analysis that outlines the investments ​ and technologies needed to decarbonise the energy system in line with the Paris Agreement. It also explores deeper decarbonisation options for the hardest sectors, to eventually cut carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions to zero. The report also found that ​ ​ ​ ​ renewable energy could curb the rise in global temperatures by helping to reduce the energy industry’s carbon dioxide emissions by 70% by 2050 through replacing ​ fossil fuels.

Positive incentives can be implemented for biodiversity conservation, including through accounting for the true value of environmental assets in decision-making, through National Environmental Accounts, and incentivising environmental restoration activities. Communities and sectors can be empowered and resourced across Australia to develop action plans to transition away from high greenhouse gas emitting processes to sustainable, healthy and prosperous pathways forward. The Climate Council’s recent report15 sets out four pillars of climate action that can provide the basis for recovery: replace all fossil fuels; take action on the land and coasts; power Australia with renewable energy; and step up as a global exporter.

We have the technology now to move to 100% renewables, it is efficient to build the ​ ​ stimulus package around this, examples of initiatives happening already that can be built on include:

○ The Tasmanian state Liberal government has unveiled its plan to 16 reach 200% renewables by 2040 : a key part of the state’s strategy to rebound from the pandemic. ○ Plans for a massive 2GW of wind, solar and storage has been unveiled 17 for the Queensland coal hub of Gladstone . ○ Oil and gas giant BP is looking to add 1.5GW of wind and solar power

14 IRENA (2020), Global Renewables Outlook: Energy transformation 2050 (Edition: 2020), ​ ​ International Renewable Energy Agency, Abu Dhabi. ISBN 978-92-9260-238-3 Available for download: www.irena.org/publications 15 Primed for action: a resilient recovery for Australia. Available at ​ https://www.climatecouncil.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/report-primed-for-action.pdf 16https://reneweconomy.com.au/tasmania-unveils-action-plan-to-reach-200-per-cent-renewables-92 879/ 17https://reneweconomy.com.au/huge-2gw-of-wind-solar-and-storage-to-deliver-green-future-for-qu eensland-industrial-hub-92021/

8 18 to a massive renewable hydrogen project in WA . ○ Industry insiders and state energy ministers have identified ten renewable mega-projects and ideas that could lead Australia’s 19 recovery from COVID-19 . ○ a new report from the Grattan Institute shows how a booming green ​ ​ 20 steel industry could secure jobs in Australia’s coal-mining heartland .

3. The need for increasing accountability and transparency in the operations of the National COVID-19 Coordination Commission

Surveys of Australian reveal a concerning level of deep pessimism and fear of the future, not only due to repercussions from the COVID-19 pandemic but also due to 21 awareness of the underlying greater crisis of climate change . Re-instilling hope in the future requires creativity and courage by the government, in transforming the economy in a way that restores Australian citizens’ trust in their government, and in the possibility of building a sustainable healthy prosperous future. The Australian Government responded to the pandemic with appropriate urgency and scale, and was widely praised and supported by the people. The reasons for this support were that the government (1) explained the problem to us (as guided by scientists), (2) engaged us in helping solve it, and (3) put aside political ideologies and rivalries and put people first. It showed its capacity to take emergency action (even if this involved some policy changes which were not politically well-aligned within the Liberal Party). And people showed their capacity to make big changes in their own lifestyles in response, because they could see that action in the right direction was being taken. The principles of being science-based, multi-partisan in approach, and providing clear explanations to the public need to be applied to designing the recovery from COVID-19.

18https://reneweconomy.com.au/bp-looks-to-add-1-5gw-wind-and-solar-for-huge-renewable-hydroge n-project-in-w-a-45931/ 19https://reneweconomy.com.au/10-key-mega-renewables-projects-and-ideas-to-lead-covid-19-recovery-35610/ 20 Wood, T., Dundas, G., and Ha, J. (2020). Start with steel. Grattan Institute. Available at ​ https://grattan.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/2020-06-Start-with-steel.pdf 21 R. Eckersley (2020) Change, pandemics and economic turmoil provoke existential fears for ​ humanity’s future. https://www.resilience.org/stories/2020-03-16/climate-change-pandemics-and-economic-turmoil-pr ovoke-existential-fears-for-humanitys-future/

9 An editorial in the Lancet Planetary Health summarises this well:

“this is ..the time to harness the window of opportunity that the COVID-19 … response is opening. The strength of response measures are forcing us to question the conventionally unquestionable as we see actions that for climate policy would have been thought politically infeasible. Ultimately the COVID-19 outbreak can help us to prioritise what really matters. When immediate health considerations are at risk people have been willingly to reduce travel and forgo the odd concert. Reducing air travel, switching electricity supply, and changing our dietary habits do not seem 22 so very much more challenging, and the wins are potentially even greater.” ​

23 Levels of trust in governments and particularly politicians are also very low . To ​ restore trust, Governments need to act with transparency and accountability, be forward-looking and put people first. The National COVID-19 Coordination ​ Commission (the Commission) established by the Australian Government in March, is sadly lacking in these qualities.

It was established to advise the Government on the “non-health” aspects of the pandemic - i.e. the pandemic’s economic and social impacts. The Commission’s role is described as coordinating and streamlining advice to Government across different sectors on different issues, among them being transport, industry, labour, delivery of essential services and support to vulnerable communities.

However, the membership of the Commission suggests that this advice will inevitably be skewed. We note that it is headed up by Neville Power, who has a strong mining and resources background (as previous CEO of Fortescue Metals Group and current Deputy Chairman of Strike Energy Ltd). We further note that the Special Advisor to the NCCC and chair of its Manufacturing Working Group, Andrew Liveris, and several other Commissioners and members of the Manufacturing Working Group, own shares in petrochemical companies, and/or work for or sit on the boards of companies that stand to gain from a gas expansion. This dominance of gas interests on such a key advisory group is concerning, as is public championing by both Neville Power and Andrew Liveris of new gas projects and gas infrastructure - all in the context of Energy Minister Angus Taylor’s comments that the economic recovery will be “gas-powered”.

22 The Lancet Planetary Health, Editorial, Vol 4 e86, March 2020. ​ ​ 23 G. Stoker, M. Evans & M. Halupka (2018). Trust and democracy in Australia: Democratic decline and renewal. Museum of Australian Democracy. 10 As well as concerns with the Commission’s membership, little information is publicly available about the way in which the Commission operates and the advice it provides to the Government.

To address the different challenges we discuss about and to create a process that is transparent and accountable, we recommend that:

● Citizens Assemblies are used to guide policy priorities: One of the strongest ​ measures that the Government could take to re-build trust and strengthen civil society would be to set up Citizens Assemblies to guide decision-making around the recovery process. Citizens Assemblies are increasingly being used across the world and are highly effective in engaging citizens. In this form of participatory politics, opinions tend to be neither polarised nor uniform. Participants develop increased respect and understanding for opposing viewpoints, giving rise to considered judgements that can cut through 24 political deadlock on even the most complex and contentious issues . ● Indigenous voices are included at all levels of decision-making and ​ consideration. Indigenous knowledge about management of country is important to a successful recovery, and the impacts of recovery initiatives on Indigenous people and lands must be considered. ● Environmental assessment and accountability processes are strengthened, not weakened: Normal environmental assessment and accountability ​ processes around development decision-making, providing for transparency in process, community input and legal rights to challenge inappropriate decisions, must not be removed to fast track development decision making during this time. In particular at a federal level, any amendments to the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (Cth) must ​ not weaken this already significantly weak Act, but rather strengthen it. ● The Commission’s membership is diversified: Its membership should include ​ those who can speak for groups most impacted and at risk during the economic recovery (e.g, workers’ rights organisations, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, human rights experts), as well as experts on climate mitigation strategies and renewable energy industry experts. ● Transparency is increased: To ensure there is transparency over the ​ operations of the Commission, there should be regular reporting on the process for soliciting and reviewing proposals, membership of any working

24 G. Smith (2019) Citizens’ assemblies: how to bring the wisdom of the public to bear on the climate ​ emergency. The Conversation, 27 June 2019 11 groups, and other activities of the Commission, its advice to the Government, and its budget and spending. ● Accountability is increased: A proper conflict of interest disclosure register ​ ​ needs to be established, as a matter of urgency, and should be maintained ​ by all members of the Commission, working groups and advisory bodies associated with it, such as the Manufacturing Taskforce and IR Working Group. The register should be published on the PM&C website, along with processes for managing conflicts of interest in the work and advice of the Commission. Members with conflicts or perceptions of conflicts should recuse themselves from all relevant discussion and work. Additional accountability measures could include a Parliamentary oversight committee, review of the role and operations of the Commission after the first year of operation, and regular publication of the Government’s response to recommendations. ● Bring enabling legislation for the Commission to Parliament that provides ​ integrity and transparency safeguards like other commissions. Legislation should include a process of inquiry where the public are invited to contribute submissions, the commission reports on findings and recommendations which are then considered by the Government. The use of interim reports should be considered in order for the NCCC to provide timely and transparent advice. ● Public accountability for broad executive powers is ensured: The pandemic ​ has seen extraordinary powers conferred upon individual Federal Ministers. Decision-making powers in the hands of Ministers rather than Parliament mean less accountability and more opaque processes of deliberation, with less public debate, input from civil society and media coverage of decisions. Oversight of spending and executive powers can only be achieved through regular Parliamentary processes such as Question Time and Senate Estimates. The Government should commit to schedule regular sittings now, whether with a quorum only or a mix of in-person and electronic participation. As soon as Parliament returns to near-normal, a bill should be put to Parliament ​ ​ to repeal the broad powers given to Ministers at the start of the pandemic. ● On-going public disclosure of funding from the stimulus package: In ​ response to COVID-19, Parliament made the largest ever-spending commitment in Australian history. It is vital that information is freely available on those industries that receive public money, and how those decisions are being made. A rolling, regularly-updated, publically-available audit of funds spent, conducted by an independent body, is essential.

12 Appendix: Submission contributors ​ Jones, Tessa. BA, B Litt (Hons), M.Psych. Over 20 years experience in hospital and mental health settings as a clinical psychologist. Over 15 years in textbook publishing, member of Extinction Rebellion Grey Power. ​ Lees, Terry. B. App Sci, M.Sc (Geol.), M. Env., Fellow of the Australasian Institute of Geoscientists. Geologist and environmental scientist, member of Extinction Rebellion Grey Power.

Noy, Greg. BE, Grad Dip Computing. 25 years in corporate IT and management. Permaculture Design Certificates, member Extinction Rebellion Grey Power.

Rivers, Petra. Dip. Ed., Aged Care Case Manager, member Extinction Rebellion Grey Power.

Sanson, Ann. BA, PhD, Professor, Fellow Australian Psychological Society, Fellow International Society for the Study of Behavioural Development. Forty years experience as an academic and researcher on children’s development in social and environmental contexts, the impacts of climate change on children, member of Extinction Rebellion Grey Power.

Sweeney, Rebecca. Dip Fine Art. Dip Teach (Secondary Art and Eng), Master of Creative Arts. Lived off grid for 30 years while revegetating rainforest in Queensland. Retired after 36 years teaching and moved to Melbourne 2020. Member of Extinction Rebellion Grey Power.

Taket, Ann. BA, MSc (Operational Research). Forty plus years career in public health and health promotion, member of Extinction Rebellion Grey Power.

Turner, Colleen. BA, Grad Dip Psychology, Grad Dip Education, Fellow Australian Psychological Society (FAPS). Member Extinction Rebellion Grey Power.

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