demanding immediate political action
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A general practitioner in outer Sydney treats an elderly widower for heat exhaustion during a January heatwave.
Days later, the same waiting room fills with patients struggling to breathe through bushfire haze. These scenes now repeat across Australian general practice every summer.
The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners has declared climate change a growing health emergency. It has called on political leaders to return the issue to the national agenda.[1]
The college warns the danger is already here, measurable, and overwhelming parts of the health system.[2]
Extreme heat remains Australia's deadliest weather hazard, outpacing floods, bushfires and storms combined.[4]
Prolonged high temperatures overwhelm the body's cooling systems, straining the heart, kidneys and lungs. People with diabetes, kidney disease and mental illness face significantly elevated risk during heatwaves.[6]
Bushfire smoke carries fine particulate matter, known as PM2.5, deep into the bloodstream. During the Black Summer fires, respiratory hospital admissions in the Australian Capital Territory tripled within a single week.[5]
Cardiovascular inflammation and asthma attacks also spike sharply when smoke haze blankets Australian cities.[5]
Floods leave a health legacy long after the water recedes. Researchers found residents displaced for six months faced double the risk of post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety and depression.[7]
Financial strain, insurance disputes and prolonged displacement compound this psychological toll.[7]
Severe weather routinely worsens existing chronic conditions rather than simply causing new illness. People living with cardiovascular disease, respiratory illness and diabetes experience heightened hospitalisation risk during heat and smoke events.[6]
Climate change therefore compounds Australia's existing chronic disease burden.[6]
Clinics and hospitals experience sudden patient surges whenever heatwaves, bushfires or floods strike simultaneously across regions. Emergency departments and ambulance services face concurrent demand spikes that stretch workforce and resources thin.[3]
This concurrency pressure ranks among the risks identified nationally as most urgent.[3]
RACGP President Dr Michael Wright insists climate change represents a health emergency happening now, rather than a distant future threat. "GPs are seeing the health impacts of climate change first-hand," he said, citing extreme heat, bushfires and floods.[1]
He pointed also to poor air quality and its impact on people already living with chronic conditions.[1]
Australia's National Climate Risk Assessment found climate change already places health and social support systems under moderate to high pressure.[3]
The assessment identified 63 nationally significant risks, with health and wellbeing rated among the most severe.[3]
Regional and remote communities featured prominently among those facing compounding hazards.[3]
Treating preventable illness within local communities reduces avoidable pressure on major hospitals. Dr Nicole Sleeman, of the RACGP's climate medicine group, said prevention and primary care build less vulnerable communities.[1]
She said this approach also strengthens the health system's overall capacity to respond.[1]
Older Australians and people with existing health conditions face amplified danger during extreme weather events. Reduced mobility, chronic illness and social isolation all limit the capacity to escape heat, smoke or floodwater.[4]
Children also face particular vulnerability owing to developing bodies and dependence on carers.[1]
Socioeconomic disadvantage compounds climate exposure across Australian communities. Research from the 2017 Northern Rivers floods found socioeconomically marginalised residents faced significantly higher rates of home inundation and displacement.[7]
Limited financial resources also slow recovery and worsen long-term psychological outcomes.[7]
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities carry disproportionate climate health burdens, particularly in remote and northern regions.[8]
Disruption to Country compounds historical injustice, damaging cultural and spiritual connections central to wellbeing.[8]
The RACGP is calling for a dedicated national coalition on climate and Indigenous health.[1]
Biodiversity loss carries direct consequences for human health and wellbeing, beyond ecological concern alone. The RACGP's position statement links declining ecosystems to reduced food security, disrupted water systems and eroded cultural connection to land.[2]
Protecting natural environments therefore forms part of protecting public health.[2]
Family doctors help communities prepare for and recover from climate-driven health emergencies. As Australia's most accessed health profession, GPs occupy a critical position in population health resilience.[1]
Their ongoing relationships with patients allow early identification of climate-related risk factors.[1]
GPs across Australia report witnessing weather-driven illness patterns shift firsthand within their own clinics. Dr Wright described GPs seeing impacts ranging from heat and bushfire smoke to worsening chronic disease and disadvantage.[1]
Many practitioners now factor climate exposure into routine patient assessments.[1]
General practice clinics can adopt environmentally sustainable measures, including reduced waste, energy efficiency and lower-carbon prescribing choices.[2]
These changes align individual practices with the broader push toward a decarbonised health system.[9]
Small operational shifts can accumulate into meaningful emissions reductions across thousands of clinics.[2]
RACGP education equips doctors with knowledge of planetary health, linking ecological change directly to patient care. The college's updated position statement commits to embedding this knowledge across GP training nationally.[2]
This ensures newly qualified doctors understand climate risk as core clinical knowledge.[2]
The RACGP argues climate change deserves urgent return to the political health agenda after years of diminished attention. Dr Wright warned Australia cannot afford further delay while health impacts continue growing.[1]
He said governments must place health at the centre of climate policy decisions.[1]
A health-in-all-policies approach requires governments to weigh health consequences across every portfolio, from energy to housing. This model maximises synergy between climate policy and the wider determinants of population health.[1]
Advocates argue the approach prevents policy silos from undermining public health goals.[1]
The RACGP wants legislation requiring governments to consider children's health and wellbeing before approving major greenhouse gas increases. Such protections would embed intergenerational accountability directly into environmental decision-making.[1]
Doctors argue today's emissions decisions will shape decades of future patient health.[1]
A net zero healthcare system by 2040, with most emissions cut by 2030, remains central to the college's demands.[9]
Supporters argue this transition protects both patients today and future generations from mounting climate harm.[9]
General practice, they argue, can lead this transition from the ground up.[1]
Australia's medical profession has delivered a clear verdict. Climate change already harms patients, strains hospitals and deepens inequality across vulnerable communities nationwide. The evidence base behind this warning spans government science, peer-reviewed research and frontline clinical experience.
Governments hold responsibility for translating scientific warnings into legislated protection. Continued inaction risks entrenching preventable suffering among the elderly, the disadvantaged and First Nations communities already bearing the heaviest burden. Every delayed decision compounds the eventual cost to patients and taxpayers alike.
General practice offers a proven, community-based model for resilience. Whether Canberra finally acts on that model will determine how many future health emergencies Australia can still prevent. Doctors have made their diagnosis, and the prescription now depends on political will.
1. GPs warn climate change is a growing health emergency and call for political action. RACGP media release outlining the college's declaration and policy demands, August 2026.
2. Climate change and planetary health position statement. RACGP's updated position on general practice, sustainability and planetary health.
3. Assessing Australia's climate risks. Australian Government summary of the National Climate Risk Assessment findings on health system pressure.
4. Let's talk about the weather: injuries related to extreme weather. AIHW analysis identifying heat as Australia's deadliest weather hazard.
5. Data update: Short-term health impacts of the 2019-20 Australian bushfires. AIHW data on hospitalisations linked to bushfire smoke exposure.
6. Impact of extreme heat on health in Australia: a scoping review. Peer-reviewed review linking heat exposure to chronic disease hospitalisation risk.
7. Floods expose social inequities, and potential mental health epidemic in its wake. University of Sydney research on flood displacement and mental health outcomes.
8. Climate Change and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health. Lowitja Institute discussion paper on disproportionate climate health impacts.
9. National Health and Climate Strategy. Australian Government strategy outlining the path toward a net zero, climate-resilient health system.
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