Climate safety plan

Australia’s housing stock is among the least energy-efficient in the developed world. Many families live in poorly insulated homes, while schools and workplaces struggle to stay comfortable in the heat and cold. Strengthening the National Construction Code is essential to ensure all new and upgraded buildings — from homes to shops to community centres — are energy efficient, liveable, and resilient to rising heat and extreme weather. We must do the same for all existing buildings, starting with minimum standards and subsidies for rental properties.

Local organisations — from community centres and neighbourhood houses to libraries and legal services — are already stepping up during climate disasters. They need recognition, resources and sustained funding to support grassroots resilience. Reforming and expanding the Disaster Ready Fund and establishing a seperate new LGA Adaptation Fund – invested with at least $2B each over 5 years – would allow community groups and local governments, respectively, to continue delivering essential support and close gaps for those most at risk.

Extreme heat, fires, floods, drought and pollution create surges in both physical and mental health needs. Healthcare workers must be supported with fair pay, skills development and resources, alongside investment in fit-for-purpose facilities. Long-term wellbeing programs are needed, particularly for children and young people, to recover from trauma and build resilience to climate stress. There’s been a plan to do all of this for years called the National Climate and Health Strategy. It’s time to stop delaying and fully fund it.

Farmers are facing shifting seasons, droughts and extreme weather. An investment of $500m over 3 years would drive agricultural research and development to help farmers adapt and improve productivity, efficiency and income diversification. Funding would also support regional water storage to strengthen drought preparedness. We need a full review of food security — from farm to table — to ensure our farmers can continue to provide food for our communities in the face of escalating climate shocks and stressors.

As climate change drives more frequent and severe disasters, we need to ensure all emergency organisations have the people, tools, and resources required to protect communities. This means immediately investing in fire, emergency, rescue and health workers by establishing a $600 million National Emergency Response Brigade, as well as providing $150 million per year until 2029 in grants for state and territory fire and rescue services. We also need a national framework to better integrate and allocate paid and voluntary response workers’ roles, responsibilities and resources.

Climate shocks can strip people of homes, livelihoods and stability. Australia’s social safety net must be reformed so it reduces, rather than deepens, vulnerability. This means providing adequate and secure income support; suspending mutual obligations and reporting during disasters, including heatwaves; and increasing Disaster Recovery Payments and Allowances so people can cover basic needs while they recover.

Communities on the front lines of extreme weather face increasingly unaffordable insurance costs – up to tens of thousands of dollars a year. Without federal government intervention, many are left destitute after disaster hits, and subject to price gouging by private insurers. The government must fund resilience upgrades for homes, and mandate discounted insurance in exchange. Measures to drive down costs like targeted subsidies for low income households, expanding reinsurance to all disasters, and investing in public insurance must be urgently explored.

No one knows what a place needs better than the people who live there. It’s essential that solutions to extreme weather are led by the communities who are affected. People in Australia have a long and proud tradition of volunteering in times of crisis. While a secure, professional workforce must form the backbone of emergency response, volunteers play an essential complementary role. To support those who step up, processes must be simpler and clearer, allowing people to focus on their communities. This means providing fair volunteer support payments; streamlining disaster recovery grant applications; and removing barriers for those on social security who contribute during disasters.

The Australian public currently gives away billions of dollars every year to giant coal and gas corporations in the form of outdated, inefficient subsidies. Reforming just two of these – the Petroleum Resource Rent Tax and the Fuel Tax Credit Scheme – could add well over $10B every year to the Australian budget, a huge new source of revenue to fund critical adaptation measures. In the longer-term, Treasury must start budgeting for both predictable climate impacts and verifiable long-term savings from adaptation measures. In the face of escalating climate crises, a rational budget would treat a $1M seawall that prevents $100M in future flood damage as a massive saving, not a marginal cost.