Forum reveals grim SW future

The Prime Minister’s independent Climate Commission was warmly welcomed to Bunbury on Tuesday night despite painting a bleak picture of the South West’s future.

Picture by David Bailey: Chief climate commissioner and former Australian of the Year Tim Flannery was greeted like a rock star by Newton Moore Senior High School students Emma Fiegert, 16, and Madison Roberts, 17, who said the climate scientist was their role model.

Kicking off a series of public forums, the commission — made up of experts from a range of fields relevant to climate change — took to the stage at the Bunbury Regional Entertainment Centre to answer questions from the community.

Newton Moore Senior High School students Emma Fiegert and Madison Roberts could hardly contain their excitement when they met former Australian of the Year and chief climate scientist Tim Flannery.

‘‘He is our role model, we’ve read his book, The Weather Makers, — I can’t stop smiling,’’ Miss Fiegert said.

‘‘We are here to hear the debate but we think it’s really important the Carbon Tax goes through.’’

Australind residents Roy and Catherine Scaife said they attended the event because they were interested to hear the discussion from the expert panel and were looking forward to hearing from Professor Flannery.

Those attending wanted to hear comments on topics such as declining rainfall, groundwater supplies, rising sea levels and how the Carbon Tax would affect their household bills.

Australind Senior High School geography teacher Ryan King said climate change nowmade up a significant part of the geography curriculum and he was there to hear the science.

The commission’s report on WA, released this week, painted a grim picture for the South West’s future including significant coastal erosion, decreasing rainfall and water supplies and loss of native animal habitats.

The commissioners said global climate was changing and humanity was almost surely the primary cause, but not all were convinced.

Alec Piper, who considers himself a climate sceptic, said the science surrounding the issue was not settled.

‘‘How can we say the science is settled when scientists are coming forward with alternative theories and present research has only scratched the surface,’’ Mr Piper said.