Urgent action required to stave off collapse

September 5, 2025

The latest report by the Australian Security Leaders Climate Group warns that climate change may lead to “widespread food insecurity, economic destabilisation, large-scale people displacement, war, failed states and social collapse”. If ever there were a better collection of people to make the connections between climate and security, it is the ASLCG led by Retired Admiral Chris Barrie. We must heed their warnings and pull out all stops to mitigate climate change.

Possibly the most worrying, apart from widespread food insecurity, is large-scale people displacement. Some suggest a billion displaced by 2050. How on earth will the world cope with this? How will Australia deal with it? We can’t take a billion extra people, so how many should we take? Will our own carrying capacity be compromised by climate change?

The Murray-Darling Basin currently produces 40% of Australia’s food thanks to irrigation but Ross Garnaut warned years ago that we would lose almost all irrigated agriculture with four degrees of warming. We know large parts of the north-west of the country will become uninhabitable.

Is it possible to have a community discussion on this to underpin government policy? Chaos looms and we need to handle it, somehow.