JENNIE GEORGE, PARLIAMENTARY COMMITTEE ON CLIMATE CHANGE: People have to realise it's not just the issue of sea level rise, it's the extreme weather events - the king tides, the storm-surges, the cyclones that compound the problem.Have these people never seen the news? When there are king tides and storm surges, or even just a big storm a lot of beach sand is moved off beaches... and deposited elsewhere. Many beaches rebuild themselves without intervention from people. It's just the way that the ocean works. It erodes. Look at the sandstone cliffs outside Sydney Heads.
MATT PEACOCK: Around Australia, the Insurance Council estimates nearly 900,000 properties are at risk from rising sea levels, which is why a bi-partisan parliamentary committee has recommended immediate action.
JENNIE GEORGE: We saw it first-hand as we travel around the nation, the early signs of the negative consequences. We saw beaches that had been washed away. We saw other beaches only existing because of sand renourishment. We saw beaches that were sandbagged, we saw houses precariously perched on top of the primary dunes - only a matter of time before they collapse. And it really opened our eyes to the need for urgent action.
Check out these beautiful photographs of the sandstone cliffs at Botany, just south of Sydney, at sunrise.
See all the rocks at the bottom of this picture? (sorry about quality, but it illustrates my point) They are part of the cliff which has been eroded by the ocean... eventually they will become grains of sand in the ocean and be washed wherever the ocean carries them from there. The ocean can do this to sandstone cliffs, and it does it to sand. Happens all the time. The councils should have restricted building on the ocean a long time ago because of the natural, non-agw erosion which has ever and always been taking place.
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