Page 5898 - Week 14 - Wednesday, 7 December 2011
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You cannot see it but I have a graph of CO2 emissions with points of economic crisis at the same time. It shows that when we had the oil crisis, things stabilised. When we had the US savings and loan crisis, CO2 emissions actually went down. The former Soviet Union collapse gave us a few years of stability. The Asian financial crisis, the one last century, again gave us a few years of stability. But the global financial crisis only gave us one year. We are now back on the exponential growth.
This is very worrying because if the world is to limit global warming to two degrees Celsius, which is thought to be probably about the maximum that we can afford before we have devastating effects, we have to keep CO2 emissions below 450 parts per million. We are up to 390 parts per million already. So the time for action is fast running out. I implore all my fellow Assembly MLAs to take this issue very seriously. We as the ACT, as Australia, as the world, need to act on this now.
Lung cancer
MR COE (Ginninderra) (7.15): On Tuesday, 22 November I had the privilege of taking part in the shine a light on lung cancer twilight vigil and walk which took place between old Parliament House and new Parliament House. The vigil in Canberra was organised by the lung cancer support group at Canberra Hospital in conjunction with the Australian Lung Foundation. I must say that, given the miserable weather conditions on that Tuesday, it was heartening to see around 100 people turn up to show their support for this very worthy cause. The vigils were initiated in the USA and this year was the first time Australia has been involved. Similar vigils to the one held in Canberra were also held in Sydney and Perth during the month of November, which is also the month that is recognised as the month of the lung.
The stats about lung disease are really quite scary. Seven million Australians over the age of 35 are at risk; 9,100 Australians are diagnosed with lung cancer every year; and more women die from lung cancer than from breast cancer. They really are scary figures and ones that need to be addressed.
I would like to commend the CEO of the Australian Lung Foundation, William Darbyshire, who was in attendance at the vigil. I would also like to acknowledge his staff, Helen Bogaart, Amila Fernando, Heather Allan, Glenda Colburn, Chris Emery, Kerrie Callaghan, Juliet Brown, Karen Lather, Karen Wright, Jenny Hose, Elizabeth Harper, Eileen Boyle, Judy Henry, Judy Powell, Ainslie Ringma, Jo Mason, Nigel McPaul and Bridget Dixon. I would also like to acknowledge the council, including Her Excellency Quentin Bryce AC, the Governor-General of Australia, the patron, the national council members Dr Bob Edwards, Mr Andrew Churchill, Adjunct Professor Matthew Peters, Adjunct Professor Peter Holmes, Dr Martin Phillips, Dr James Markos, Professor Mark Holmes, Mr John Caravousanos, Professor Peter Frith, David MacIntosh, Professor John Upham, Professor Phillip Thompson and Professor Paul Reynolds.
The Australian Lung Foundation was established in 1990 by a group of thoracic physicians concerned about the chronic shortage of funds for research work in respiratory medicine and the impact of lung disease on our community. I commend
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