WA needs a bold vision for our economy, environment, and action on climate change. A new way of thinking that can solve environmental challenges while future-proofing our economy, creating jobs and providing a better quality of life for all West Australians.
The goals and targets set out in this document provide a blueprint for tackling climate change and addressing WA’s biggest environmental challenges. But this is more than a plan for our environment and climate.
This is a plan to create thousands of secure, well-paid jobs by investing in future growth industries with the benefits shared among all West Australians.
These measures will improve the quality of life for everyone while providing new hope and real opportunities for those who have been missing out. If this plan is implemented, it will invigorate regional economies while supporting our communities, farmers, and businesses to flourish as part of a cleaner, fairer and more sustainable future for Western Australia.
Through this plan, we can create a stronger and fairer economy while protecting our unique environment and dramatically cutting the carbon pollution that is driving our climate to get hotter, drier, and more dangerous.
Together, these transformative goals and measures will position WA as a leader in the emerging global economy, protect our unique environment, and deliver thousands of jobs and real opportunities for communities and businesses across WA.
Right now our climate, environment and communities are facing unprecedented challenges that demand urgent action.
Climate change is making drought, fire and other extreme weather events more frequent and more dangerous. Combined with decades of unsustainable land management, this presents huge challenges for the viability of regional communities and threatens the natural resources like soil and water that we all depend on.
Western Australia is home to unique plants and animals found nowhere else. But in many places, our wildlife and biodiversity are facing collapse as the number of endangered species grows, and the available habitat for wildlife shrinks every year. If we don’t act now to address these challenges, many of these species will be lost forever.
The WA Auditor General has identified a chronic lack of funding for the protection and management of wildlife in WA and has warned that millions of hectares of farmland are under threat from salinity and soil degradation. State of Environment reports have described high rates of clearing, logging, burning and other habitat loss, while weeds, pests, feral animals and a drying climate are also taking their toll.
Expansion of the highly polluting Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) industry has seen our state’s carbon pollution climb to record levels, with per-capita pollution now higher than almost any country in the world. The exposure of our economy to these industries is harming our competitiveness and while workers in these industries face insecure employment and lack a transition plan to cleaner alternatives.
Now is the time for bold, urgent, and decisive action. The good news is that with new ways of thinking and working together, the solutions to these challenges can deliver a stronger, fairer and more competitive economy while providing new jobs and opportunities for all West Australians.