New research supported by Natural Hazards Research Australia (the Centre) is strengthening the evidence base for coordinated national action on extreme heat, with findings presented on Extreme Heat Awareness Day.
Hosted by Australian Red Cross and Sweltering Cities, the webinar brought together practitioners, researchers and community leaders to examine how Australia can better prepare for increasingly frequent and severe heatwaves.
Opening the discussion, Emma Bacon Executive Director of Sweltering Cities highlighted the growing danger extreme heat poses to communities across Australia and the importance of cross-sector collaboration to reduce harm.
John Swain Homelessness Manager with the City of Sydney outlined how extreme heat affects people experiencing homelessness and the operational challenges of protecting vulnerable populations during prolonged hot weather.
Eilish McGuire, Urban Climate Resilience Program lead with the Australian Red Cross discussed community-level health and wellbeing impacts, emphasising preparedness, outreach and support for at-risk groups.
Together, these perspectives reinforced that extreme heat is both a public health emergency and a social equity issue requiring coordinated planning.
Centre research informing national coordination
Dr Sue Heatley’s presentation focused on Centre-funded research Heatwave resilience and impacts, examining heatwave risk, vulnerability and governance across Australia.
Sue highlighted the compounding risks of rising daytime and nighttime temperatures, noting that hotter nights reduce recovery time and contribute to more severe and prolonged heatwaves.
She emphasised that while heatwaves disproportionately affect older people, young children, outdoor workers and those with existing medical conditions, the full toll remains largely undocumented. Heat-related deaths are undercounted, injuries linked to heat exhaustion are rarely captured and mental health impacts are poorly tracked, leaving policymakers without a complete picture of the true burden.
Sue then detailed the four interlinked work packages underpinning the Natural Hazards Research Australia-funded project:
Work Package 1:
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Examines how the National Heatwave Service’s seven‑day forecasts and warning products are understood and used.
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Uses stakeholder interviews, a national survey and focus groups with vulnerable communities.
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Aims to identify barriers preventing people from taking protective action during extreme heat.
Work Package 2:
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Focuses on improving near real‑time reporting of heat‑related mortality.
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Builds on a scoping review showing heat‑specific coding captures only ~17% of heat‑attributable deaths due to widespread misclassification.
Work Package 3:
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Develops a practical methodology to estimate the direct and indirect costs of extreme heat.
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Covers impacts across agriculture, healthcare, and energy systems.
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Includes assessment of current costs and projections under future warming scenarios.
Work Package 4:
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Investigates how electricity failures during heatwaves intensify health risks.
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Early findings show power outages significantly worsen outcomes.
Collectively, the project will strengthen heatwave messaging, establish more robust surveillance systems and provide decision makers with the evidence needed to build more resilient communities in a hotter climate.
Preparing for a hotter future
Across the webinar, a consistent message emerged: extreme heat is predictable and increasingly severe, but its worst impacts are preventable with coordinated national action.
By connecting frontline experience with Centre-supported research, the discussion highlighted a clear pathway toward stronger heatwave governance and safer communities in a warming climate.