With a long, hot summer predicted for Australia this year, Cumberland Council is preparing for the heatwaves expected to hit western Sydney.
Pools, community centres and libraries staying open for longer hours are just one of the initiatives on the cards to help locals stay cool this summer.
Speaking at the latest Council meeting, Councillor Sabrin Farooqui urged the Chamber to support critical programs to help residents prepare for higher temperatures.
“Climate change is real, Australia is predicted to have the hottest summer this year, we have longer and hotter summers now. We feel heatwaves and extreme heat more often than ever,” she said.
“We who live in western Sydney suffer the impact, our people are suffering the brunt.
“With protections for more frequent and prolonged heatwaves in the future, there is a need to ensure that our community are prepared for the summer and they are safe during the summer.”
Farooqui said there needs to be a particularly strong focus on supporting the Cumberland Council area’s most vulnerable, elderly and young.
“We need to have education programs, residents need to know their course of action before, after and during the heatwave. They need to know what emergency kit they can use if there is a blackout,” she added.
“With the rising cost of living, it’s not an option for many of us to go home and turn on the air-con.
“We need to have a plan.”
Although Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology has yet to officially declare an El Niño event, it has revealed the weather event is “likely” to develop during spring.
It also confirmed higher than usual maximum temperatures are greater than 80 per cent chance for almost all of Australia in the coming months.
Councillor Mohamed Hussein, who also works as a nurse, said heat is the deadliest weather-related hazard in Australia.
“From my experience in the nursing field, a lot of people fail to take extreme heat seriously, and that causes a lot of people to come into the emergency department for help,” he added.
“We need to take extreme weather and heat seriously.”
The notice of motion received the unanimous support of the Chamber.
Cumberland Council will now put together a report ahead of its next meeting on targeted programs that can be implemented to provide relief for the community during the anticipated summer heat waves.
Changes to the residential Development Control Plan to support heat mitigation will also be investigated.
Ellie Busby is a news reporter for Western Sydney Publishing Group. A graduate of the University of Hertfordshire and Western Sydney University, she is a journalism Major. Ellie has worked with Universal Media, The Cova Project and for a range of other organisations. In 2024, Ellie was named Young Writer of the Year at the Mumbrella Publish Awards.