January Heat Records Spark Calls for Urgent National Action

Sydney - Communities across Australia faced record-breaking temperatures in January as multiple dangerous heatwaves swept the country, prompting renewed calls for urgent national policy action to address extreme heat.

Advocacy group, Sweltering Cities, said the escalating heat crisis is placing communities at risk, warning that existing responses rely too heavily on individual resilience rather than coordinated government action.

The warning coincides with Extreme Heat Awareness Day on Tuesday, 4 February, a national day of action led by Sweltering Cities and the Australian Red Cross, alongside the ACTU, Australian Medical Association (AMA) and the Australian Local Government Association (ALGA).

As part of the initiative, community leaders and advocacy organisations are meeting with parliamentarians to push for a proactive national strategy to address extreme heat.

Dozens of events are being held nationwide, from Cairns to Hobart, with hundreds of thousands of people expected to engage.

Sweltering Cities said extreme heat causes more deaths in Australia than bushfires, cyclones and floods combined, describing it as the country’s deadliest environmental hazard.

The organisation said the impacts are increasingly visible in suburban communities, with some residents sleeping in cars to escape hot homes, children struggling to learn in overheated classrooms, and households forced to choose between cooling and other essential expenses.

Sweltering Cities Executive Director, Emma Bacon, said rising temperatures should be treated as a public health emergency.

“Our cities are sweltering. The urban heat island effect is making our suburbs unsafe, trapping heat in our streets and homes long after the sun goes down,” Bacon said.

She said pollution from coal and gas was driving longer and more severe heatwaves, calling on the federal government to reduce fossil fuel emissions and adopt long-term measures to cool cities.

“We need leadership that moves beyond emergency response to proactive solutions that cool our communities,” Bacon said.

Sweltering Cities said policy priorities should include safer housing, cooler urban design, targeted support for vulnerable populations and long-term measures to limit future warming.

The organisation will host a major Extreme Heat Awareness Day event in Parramatta on Wednesday, 5 February.

The event, titled "Hot City, Cool People", will feature author Winnie Dunn, medical experts, sports figures and community advocates discussing heat-related risks and solutions.

Sweltering Cities is Australia’s only national advocacy organisation focused specifically on extreme heat, community health and climate-safe urban development.