A BRIEF blast of hot weather last weekend was enough to remind us of what is just around the corner.
After a long, cold winter, warmer weather can be a novelty, at least for a while, and especially if you have a pool.
But many people in public housing are dreading the hot weather, which starts in spring and smashes us in summer – and all because of an issue that can and must be solved.
The lack of air-conditioning in public housing is an issue which has been ignored by successive governments for decades.
That has to change.
Climate change has led to increased longer and intense heatwaves during summer and hotter overnight temperatures. This is not an opinion, but a matter of fact and evidence.
Bureau of Meteorology data tells us that between 1988-99 and 2018-19 the number of days during the November to March period with temperatures over 34 degrees had increased from 41 to 64.
Overnight temperatures above 20 degrees – which is the considered the maximum temperature conducive to restorative sleep – had increased from 30 to 55 in that same time period.
We know it’s getting hotter, we know there are more heatwaves, and we know the impacts of that heat can be deadly.
The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted our lives in a way we have never seen before – none more than lockdowns which restricted the reasons we could leave our homes.
Thankfully those restrictions have now been eased in regional Victoria, but imagine being in lockdown in a house with no air-conditioning in the height of summer.
Getting relief from extreme Mallee heat is not just a matter of comfort, it is a matter of public safety.
It is inhumane to continue to leave public housing tenants to fend for themselves with such an essential utility.
I have been lobbying for air-conditioning in public housing since I was a councillor and I will not stop lobbying for it until the Government comes through.
