Angus Taylor spurns health sector's taunts

More than 700 health professionals have written to Prime Minister Scott Morrison saying they are bearing witness to the harm Mr Taylor's failure to reduce emissions is causing to the health of Australians.

But a spokesman for Mr Taylor said the minister was delivering record investment in renewable energy, cutting emissions and reducing household power prices.

"Facts that Labor, the Climate and Health Alliance and other activist groups choose to ignore," he said.

The health professionals said Mr Taylor failed in his ministerial duties by allocating public money to gas and other polluting fossil fuel projects, while overseeing a 50 per cent decline in large-scale renewable investment.

He has also failed to reduce Australia's emissions in line with its international obligations and by not committing Australia to a 2050 net zero emissions target.

"Public health is inextricably linked to climate health. Climate damage is here now -- and it is killing people," the letter said.

Australian Climate and Health Alliance executive director Fiona Armstrong said climate change was a health emergency.

"It means more bushfires, more dangerous heatwaves, the spread of tropical diseases, and an increase in heat-related illnesses and deaths," she said.

"We urge our political leaders to commit to urgent climate action by reducing greenhouse gas emissions in line with what the science demands."

Kelly O'Shanassy, chief executive officer of the Australian Conservation Foundation, which co-ordinated the letter, says the government must show it is serious about climate change.

"At the moment, Australia is a global leader in per capita climate pollution," she said.

"We urge Prime Minister Morrison to immediately replace Angus Taylor with a minister who is committed to the job of rapidly cutting emissions."

Australian Associated Press