Minister for Climate Change Penny Wong has warned of the dangers climate change poses to Queensland’s coastline.

She says the state will take a big hit economically as well as environmentally.

Carly Synnott reports.

TRANSCRIPT

Choosing to sit back and do nothing about climate change could reduce the output of the sugar cane industry by 12 per cent by 2030, 17 per cent by 2050.

And the beef industry is estimated to decline 34 per cent by 2050.

Queensland is especially vulnerable when it comes to climate change. Extreme weather conditions such as floods and droughts are expected to increase. What Queenslander’s don’t expect is to be hit hard economically.

Coral bleaching has the potential to overwhelm the tourism and fishing industries, the direct costs from the loss of the Great Barrier Reef as a major tourism attraction could cost the country close to 40 billion dollars.

Penny Wong, Minister for Climate Change: “This kind of change is likely to have dramatic consequences for human health, infrastructure, energy requirements and agricultural production.”

The Minister spoke at the Queensland University of Technology today spruiking the merits of the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme.

Penny Wong, Minister for Climate Change: “The government’s policy is a responsible answer to the risk of climate change. If you pollute there is a price.”

While some were glad the Minister made the effort, not everyone was impressed by the speech, some saying they’d heard it all before.

Carly Synnott QUT News