Heatwaves are more than a nuisance - they are a health hazard in our warming world

 

Well this last week of November 2025 certainly brought a reminder that heatwaves are not just a feature of an Australian summer, they are also a definite health hazard for many in our communities. 

Particularly those with pre-existing health conditions, as well as the very young and those in older age brackets. People who work outdoors are also at increased risk. 

[Australian Climate Service, 2025, "Australia’s National Climate Risk Assessment"]

Between 1990 and 2023, the average annual number of heat wave days was 15.6 days. 

[Monash University, News, 21 July 2025, "30+ years of heat wave data to reduce impacts of extreme heat"]

In the four years between 2016 and 2019, the deaths of 1,006 people were attributable to heatwave conditions. 

[Zhihu Xu, et al, Sept 2025,Mapping heatwave-related mortality across 2288 local communities in Australia: a nationwide time-series analysis"]

During those same four years the annual heatwave-related attributable mortality rate (per 100,000 residents per year) was 1.08 nationally. While New South Wales had an annual heatwave-related attributable mortality rate (per 100,000 residents per year) of 1.38.

By way of examples closer to home, when it came to the annual heatwave-related attributable mortality rate in North East NSW during 2016-2019:

Casino Region mortality rate was 5;

Kyogle mortality rate was 4.6;

Maclean-Yamba-Iluka area mortality rate 3.7; 

Murwillumbah mortality rate 2.9;

Lismore Region mortality rate 2.6;

Grafton Region mortality rate was 1.9; and

Lennox Head-Skennars Head mortality rate 0.9. 

[The Guardian, 17 Sept 2025, "Heatwaves caused more than 1,000 deaths in Australia over four-year period, study finds"]

From 2019 to 2022, there were 2,143 hospital admissions related to extreme heat, including 717 patients from Queensland, 410 from Victoria, 348 from NSW, 266 from South Australia, 267 from Western Australia, 73 from the Northern Territory, 23 from the ACT and 19 from Tasmania. 

[AIHW, media release, 2 Nov 2023, "Extreme weather is leading to more injury hospitalisations, with heat being the main cause"]

In 2025 it is not only Gaza being starved to death by malice aforethought

 

In 2025 it is not only Gaza and its people being starved to death and its infrastructure destroyed by malice aforethought.

Just 16 days days into his term as 47th US president Donald J Trump issued a presidential action document titled WITHDRAWING THE UNITED STATES FROM AND ENDING FUNDING TO CERTAIN UNITED NATIONS ORGANIZATIONS AND REVIEWING UNITED STATES SUPPORT TO ALL INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS

which can be found at

https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/02/withdrawing-the-united-states-from-and-ending-funding-to-certain-united-nations-organizations-and-reviewing-united-states-support-to-all-international-organizations/

Historically the United States of America had been the largest member state contributor to the UN annual budget.

In 2025 its financial support was intended to contribute est. 31 percent, with its funding meeting est. 22 percent of the UN regular budget and approximately 26 percent of the UN peacekeeping budget, with the other 193 UN member states contributing an est. 69% of the total annual financial support required.

The intent of this presidential action document appears to be the systematic starvation of the peak United Nations organisation and its agencies, by way of not meeting its obligations as set out in the UN2025 Budget assessment of 8 January 2025 and refusing to pay existing U.S. membership arrears in order to bend this international peak body to his will.

At Day 65 of this second Trump presidency the UN carried state member nation contribution arrears totalling US$2.4 billion of which the United States owed US$1.5 billion.

By Day 180 of this second presidency Trump had not revoked the 4 February 2025 decision, but he had not broken the resolve of the UN to protect its independence. Nor had he managed to shutdown all UN debates & resolutions on the Question of Gaza.

As of 3 October 2025, only 139 Member States (72%) had paid their dues in full. Members that have NOT paid their dues in full included:

• 9 members of the Human Rights Council: Benin, Bolivia, Burundi, Chile, China, Cuba, Ghana, Malawi, Mexico.

• 4 members of the Security Council: China (permanent), Russia (permanent), the US (permanent), Pakistan.

Come October-September the 2025 mainstream media and others began to comment on the acute liquidity stress the UN was experiencing due to this prolonged reduction in funding.

On Day 247, Tuesday 23 September 2025, Trump delivered a speech to the United Nations General Assembly. Like other member states he was allotted 15 minutes but he spoke for 57 minutes. During which time his audience politely laughed at his barbed humour as he attempted to blame UN staff for the problems caused by his own security and communications teams on his way into the assembly hall and up to the lectern and I suspect many, battered by Trump's global trade war, worried by incessant belligerent/ threatening tweets against their governments or hoping to pour oil on Trump's resentment of the United Nations, sat stoically though the better part of an hour of barefaced falsehoods, boasting and arrogant insults, then clapped him enthusiastically.

On or about 30 September 2025 Trump held a press conference with the alleged war criminal Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, at which he announced that he would head the Board of Peace. This announcement comes at 2:22 mins into the video below

On Day 302, Monday 17 November 2025 the UN Security Council announced the following in a press release which began:

The Security Council today endorsed the United States-backed “Comprehensive Plan to End the Gaza Conflict”, welcomed its establishment of the Board of Peace and authorised the Board and Member States working with it to establish a temporary International Stabilization Force in Gaza.

Adopting resolution 2803 (2025) (to be issued as document S/RES/2803(2025)) by a vote of 13 in favour to none against, with 2 abstentions (China, Russian Federation), the Council also authorized the Board and Member States participating therein to enter arrangements necessary to achieve the Comprehensive Plan’s objectives and to establish operational entities to this end. Such entities will operate under the Board’s transitional authority and oversight.

The Council also underscored the importance of the full resumption of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip in cooperation with the Board, in a manner consistent with relevant international legal principles, through cooperating organizations — including the United Nations — and ensuring such aid is not diverted by armed groups.

Further, the text states that, as the Force establishes control and stability, the Israel Defense Forces will withdraw from the Gaza Strip based on standards, milestones and timeframes linked to demilitarization that will be agreed between specified parties — “save for a security perimeter presence that will remain until Gaza is properly secure from any resurgent terror threat”.

Additionally, the Council decided that the Board, along with international civil and security presences authorized by today’s resolution, shall remain authorized until 31 December 2027, subject to further Council action. The organ also requested the Board to provide it with a written progress report every six months......

Those member states on the Security Council who voted in favour of this resolution, which both what remains of the Palestinian government in Gaza and the State of Israel are believed to object to for different reasons, were Algeria, Demark, France, Greece, Guyana, Pakistan, Panama, South Korea, Sierra Leone, and Slovenia.

It would seem the United Nations Security Council remains dominated by the United States of America and, by a U.S. president who could be suspected of being predominately focussed on seeking both the Nobel Peace Prize and his family's enrichment through land/property development deals on the ground in Gaza.

As of 3:30am AEDST a UN direct link to Resolution 2803 (2025) so an alternate source for this resolution was sought.

Full transcript of Resolution 2803 (2025) can be found at end of an article with title & lede; "Full text of the US resolution for Gaza approved by the UN Security Council: UN Resolution 2803 places Donald Trump in control of Gaza and, using vague language, says if certain targets are met there could be a pathway to the creation of a Palestinian state"

at

https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/full-text-us-resolution-gaza-approved-un-security-council

"Adopted by the Security Council at its 10046th meeting, on 17 November 2025

The Security Council,

Welcoming the Comprehensive Plan to End the Gaza Conflict of 29 September 2025 (“Comprehensive Plan”), and applauding the states that have signed, accepted, or endorsed it, and further welcoming the historic Trump Declaration for Enduring Peace and Prosperity of 13 October 2025 and the constructive role played by the United States of America, the State of Qatar, the Arab Republic of Egypt, and the Republic of Türkiye, in having facilitated the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip,

Determining that the situation in the Gaza Strip threatens the regional peace and the security of neighboring states and noting prior relevant Security Council resolutions relating to the situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question,

1. Endorses the Comprehensive Plan, acknowledges the parties have accepted it, and calls on all parties to implement it in its entirety, including maintenance of the ceasefire, in good faith and without delay;

2. Welcomes the establishment of the Board of Peace (BoP) as a transitional administration with international legal personality that will set the framework, and coordinate funding, for the redevelopment of Gaza pursuant to the Comprehensive Plan, and in a manner consistent with relevant international legal principles, until such time as the Palestinian Authority (PA) has satisfactorily completed its reform program, as outlined in various proposals, including President Trump’s peace plan in 2020 and the Saudi-French Proposal, and can securely and effectively take back control of Gaza. After the PA reform program is faithfully carried out and Gaza redevelopment has advanced, the conditions may finally be in place for a credible pathway to Palestinian self-determination and statehood. The United States will establish a dialogue between Israel and the Palestinians to agree on a political horizon for peaceful and prosperous coexistence;

3. Underscores the importance of the full resumption of humanitarian aid in cooperation with the BoP into the Gaza Strip in a manner consistent with relevant international legal principles and through cooperating organizations, including the United Nations, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and the Red Crescent, and ensuring such aid is used solely for peaceful uses and not diverted by armed groups;

4. Authorizes Member States participating in the BoP and the BoP to: (A) enter into such arrangements as may be necessary to achieve the objectives of the Comprehensive Plan, including those addressing privileges and immunities of personnel of the force established in paragraph 7 below; and (B) establish operational entities with, as necessary, international legal personality and transactional authorities for the performance of its functions, including: (1) the implementation of a transitional governance administration, including the supervising and supporting of a Palestinian technocratic, apolitical committee of competent Palestinians from the Strip, as championed by the Arab League, which shall be responsible for day-to-day operations of Gaza’s civil service and administration; (2) the reconstruction of Gaza and of economic recovery programs; (3) the coordination and supporting of and delivery of public services and humanitarian assistance in Gaza; (4) any measures to facilitate the movement of persons in and out of Gaza, in a manner consistent with the Comprehensive Plan; and (5) any such additional tasks as may be necessary to support and implement the Comprehensive Plan;

5. Understands that the operational entities referred to in paragraph 4 above will operate under the transitional authority and oversight of the BoP and are to be funded through voluntary contributions from donors and BoP funding vehicles and governments;

6. Calls upon the World Bank and other financial institutions to facilitate and provide financial resources to support the reconstruction and development of Gaza , including through the establishment of a dedicated trust fund for this purpose and governed by donors;

7. Authorizes Member States working with the BoP and the BoP to establish a temporary International Stabilization Force (ISF) in Gaza to deploy under unified command acceptable to the BoP, with forces contributed by participating States, in close consultation and cooperation with the Arab Republic of Egypt and the State of Israel, and to use all necessary measures to carry out its mandate consistent with international law, including international humanitarian law. The ISF shall work with Israel and Egypt, without prejudice to their existing agreements, along with the newly trained and vetted Palestinian police force, to help secure border areas; stabilize the security environment in Gaza by ensuring the process of demilitarizing the Gaza Strip, including the destruction and prevention of rebuilding of the military, terror, and offensive infrastructure, as well as the permanent decommissioning of weapons from non-state armed groups; protect civilians, including humanitarian operations; train and provide support to the vetted Palestinian police forces; coordinate with relevant States to secure humanitarian corridors; and undertake such additional tasks as may be necessary in support of the Comprehensive Plan. As the ISF establishes control and stability, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) will withdraw from the Gaza Strip based on standards, milestones, and timeframes linked to demilitarization that will be agreed between the IDF, ISF, the guarantors, and the United States, save for a security perimeter presence that will remain until Gaza is properly secure from any resurgent terror threat. The ISF shall, (A) assist the BoP in monitoring the implementation of the ceasefire in Gaza, and enter into such arrangements as may be necessary to achieve the objectives of the Comprehensive Plan; and (B) operate under the strategic guidance of the BoP and will be funded through voluntary contributions from donors and BoP funding vehicles and governments;

8. Decides the BoP and international civil and security presences authorized by this resolution shall remain authorized until Dec. 31, 2027, subject to further action by the Council, and any further reauthorization of the ISF be in full cooperation and coordination with Egypt and Israel and other Member States continuing to work with the ISF;

9. Calls upon Member States and international organizations to work with the BoP to identify opportunities to contribute personnel, equipment, and financial resources to its operating entities and the ISF, to provide technical assistance to its operating entities and the ISF, and to give full recognition to its acts and documents;

10. Requests the BoP provide a written report on progress related to the above to the UN Security Council every six months;

11. Decides to remain seized of the matter."