Climate disaster survivors have labelled the current 'Disaster Ready Fund' as deeply inadequate and are calling for a massively scaled up Climate Compensation Fund in response to the release of the National Climate Risk Assessment and National Climate Adaptation Plan today, which we welcome.
The Assessment found there is greater risk of "compounding, cascading and concurrent hazards, abrupt climate changes and greater than 1.5 million people experiencing sea level rise and coastal flooding risks by 2050.
The economic cost of climate change is already $38 billion per year. The Disaster Ready Fund, the Government's funding response to build resilience and adapt to climate disasters, provides just $200 million per year to communities. It's deeply inadequate to prevent and prepare for the risks communities face.
Research shows every dollar invested in adaptation and resilience generates more than $10 in benefits over 10 years. Yet in recent years the Australian Government has only spent 7% of its disaster funding on disaster risk reduction and resilience, and zero on prevention.
Newly formed Make Big Polluters Pay Alliance calls for the urgent need for a Climate Compensation Fund to provide sustained support to communities at disaster risk and to implement the National Adaptation Plan. The big corporations profiting off creating climate pollution must pay their fair share towards this Fund.
It's not just communities hit by disasters that are bearing the costs. Everyday households are enduring rising insurance and cost of living as a result of climate change impacts and the Risk Assessment shows this will only get worse.
Serena Joyner, CEO, Bushfire Survivors For Climate Action said:
"The findings in the National Climate Risk Assessment are shocking but not a surprise to our members, many of whom have faced down the terrifying reality of climate change and know what is coming. This is a moment for Australia to be courageous and act as fast as possible in bringing down climate pollution, while properly investing in communities facing climate damage, to support them to be better prepared for the consequences of climate change. It's only fair that the big coal, oil and gas corporations that have been taking our country's resources and making huge profits should now help pay to clean up their mess through a climate pollution levy that will directly help these communities."
Jan Harris, bushfire survivor, Reedy Swamp, NSW, said:
"In 2018 we lost our home in a day of catastrophic weather. When we talk of loss it's the dollar figure that is often discussed but we are different people now, sleepless nights, anxiety, PTSD. All through this we have worked, paid taxes and tried to minimise our footprint on the planet while fossil fuel companies post record profits pay minimal tax and increase the risk of us losing our rebuilt home. It is families just like mine who are shouldering the burden of climate change and we are close to breaking."
Jack Egan, bushfire survivor, Rosedale, NSW, said:
"Black summer home losers like me, floods sufferers, farmers unable to feed their animals for lack of rain, fisher people whose livelihoods are smashed by algal blooms, Torres Strait Islanders seeing their homelands disappear under rising seas, you and me paying hiked insurance – we have all had enough. No longer will we buy the furphy that we need to expand fossil fuel dependency because our way of life depends on it. Our way of life can only be saved by shrinking fossil fuel use in favour of renewable energy and lots of it. And we can do that.
In the meantime, fossil fuel companies make huge profits from the very causes of climate catastrophes, gobble up public subsidies and pay next to zero tax."
Becca Dakini, Oxfam Australia First Peoples Climate Justice Lead said:
"This is a moment of overdue climate truth-telling and a much-needed wake-up call for so-called Australia. Let us now respond with the urgency required.
First Nations communities in Australia and the Torres Strait, who have contributed the least to the climate crisis, face the greatest risks - threatening lands, waters, culture, and spiritual identity. We call for genuine co-design and consultation, not tokenism - and immediate policy reform and sustained funding so First Nations communities are prioritised in adaptation, relocation, and disaster response, as well as investment in Indigenous-led climate solutions and land stewardship that will benefit the entire nation. And we must end our identity as a nation that is reliant on fossil fuels and commit to a clean energy future. Forced displacement of communities, impacts on Country and loss of natural resources mean not just financial but unquantifiable cultural losses. For real climate justice, First Nations communities must be resourced to respond and adapt with full self-determination - with Just Adaptation as priority in addition to Just Transition."
Julie-Anne Richards, Campaign Strategic Lead, Make Big Polluters Pay Alliance said:
"We cannot wait for disaster to hit to start preparing and adapting, so the National Climate Risk Assessment and National Adaptation Plan are welcome. The key element missing from the National Adaptation Plan is adequate and sustained funding to meet the costs now and into the future. Coal, oil and gas corporations who are responsible for 75% of Australia's climate pollution must contribute to the costs of responding to climate change."
Today, coal, oil and gas corporations are putting the costs of their climate pollution onto household and government budgets. These corporations pay little tax, take billions in government subsidies and are not contributing to cleaning up the mess their climate pollution creates. We need a Climate Compensation Fund to help communities respond to the rising risks and impacts of climate change and the government should put in place a Climate Pollution Levy to ensure these big corporations pay for it."
Polling conducted by Essential Media and commissioned by the newly formed alliance, Make Big Polluters Pay, has uncovered:
- that there is general agreement (75%) that climate change and extreme weather is contributing to cost-of-living pressures.
- the majority of Australians (62%) agree that coal, oil and gas corporations should pay for the damage caused by their climate pollution, including contributing to the costs of climate disasters.
- That 70% agree that the government should get coal, oil and gas corporations to take more responsibility when it comes to climate pollution and damages they cause.
