Tasmania has a reputation as a refuge from the impacts of climate change, due to its sprawling wilderness areas and cool climate. But the National Climate Risk Assessment has forecast key climate hazards for the state, including worsening heatwaves, drought and flooding.
00:00Laying down the first coats, Queensland couple Anna and Jack are starting to renovate their new Tasmanian home.
00:09They made the move to beat the heat.
00:11People had made comments whilst we were here of, you know, you get to witness all four seasons.
00:15You know, it's not just summer all year and then you get winter for two weeks.
00:19Jack works as a tradie and recalls being sent home from a work site for days because of the Queensland heat.
00:26We couldn't breathe, you know, the humidity was so bad. It was 1.30 in the Arvo, we still had a couple of hours to go.
00:32And the foreman just said, bugger this, like, this can't be done.
00:36The couple are part of a growing cohort of people moving to Tasmania for the climate.
00:41Although Tasmania may have a reputation as a climate refuge, the recent National Climate Risk Assessment highlighted key climate hazards for the state.
00:50Just because we might not see all of those same effects in the same way that every other place doesn't mean that the impacts in Tasmania won't be as difficult.
01:01The assessment found Tasmania could expect a rise in severe and extreme heat waves from two to up to 20 days a year.
01:09Higher fire danger, increased drought and more floods.
01:13Launceston was studied for what's called compound flooding. That's when there's more than one cause of a flood.
01:19The assessment found that the city's flood risk could result in some areas being submerged by more than two metres of water by 2090.
01:27We are prepared to respond when a flood event does happen.
01:31And whilst I really hope that we don't reach the magnitudes of some of the floods that are presented in the case study and in the report, we need to be prepared as a community.
01:40It's hoped the assessment will be used by governments, businesses and communities to avoid the worst case scenarios.
01:47Dr Palmer says Tasmania's capability to adapt to and recover from climate change will rely on the readiness of emergency services and local governments.
01:56How well resourced they are to be able to manage those events and to support people and protect people and help them to recover.
02:04Jack and Anna still feel they've come to the right place.
02:07And even if those types of issues that we were seeing in Queensland started to eventuate down here, we would probably just be grateful that we would be dealing with a smaller or a lower severity of it anyway.
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