Add Category
Australians are increasingly concerned extreme weather events will force them to relocate away from their homes, with many already having to move temporarily or permanently, a new survey has found.
Rising insurance premiums to the point of unaffordability were also of big concern, as were the impacts of extreme weather events on children and young people.
The survey, released today by the Climate Council, asked 1,568 people from across the country about how extreme weather events were impacting their wellbeing.
One in three Australians said they were worried they may have to permanently relocate due to extreme weather, while two in five had already had to do so, either temporarily or permanently, or knew someone who had.
Chief executive of the Resilient Building Council Kate Cotter said it reflected a "sense of hopelessness" in communities that needed to be addressed.
"I think that's where the work needs to be done, to be able to give people practical solutions to help reduce their risk, get a sense of security, reduce their insurance, and just help people deal with these escalating disasters," she said.
Queensland and New South Wales worst hit
According to the survey, the overwhelming majority of Australians reported having been directly affected by climate-related disasters since 2019, the highest of which was related to heatwaves.
Some of the worst-hit areas for extreme weather-related disasters revealed in the survey were Queensland and New South Wales, where whiplash weather extremes are familiar to many.
The survey found Queenslanders in particular were more likely to experience one or more floods, heatwaves, cyclones, or destructive storms compared to people living in other states and territories.
It found residents of both Queensland and New South Wales were also more likely to have lived through one or more droughts compared to their counterparts in other states and territories.
Retired Major General Peter Dunn, the former ACT commissioner of the ACT Emergency Services Authority, said he had observed a "huge increase in anxiety" through those states in particular.
Mr Dunn is now a member of the Emergency Leaders for Climate Action group and was living in Lake Conjola during the Black Summer bushfires, where dozens of homes were destroyed.
"I've seen a huge increase in anxiety within community members, literally, dozens and dozens of people that have had to relocate because of extreme weather, both fire and flood," he said.
"I really notice a concern, even amongst people who I would have called climate-change deniers previously, about the future of their children and younger generations, in terms of staying in certain areas, and having sustainable employment in those areas.
"They're seeing the potential for big shifts of some populations, rural populations, and I hope our political leaders actually take it into account, and really, really think about this report."
Incentives for stronger houses
One of the biggest concerns for survey participants was rising insurance premiums.
The survey found 84 per cent of people were worried that their home insurance may become unaffordable due to worsening disasters.
This has been a hot-button issue in the past for homeowners, with a 2023 report by consumer group Choice finding almost nine in 10 consumers said their insurance had increased with their most recent renewal notice.
Many also did not get cheaper insurance premiums despite investing in things that made their homes more disaster-proof, Choice's report found.
Ms Cotter said she believed the insurance industry had a big role to play in making communities better equipped to deal with extreme weather, particularly in the way of incentives.
However, she said there were promising signs insurance companies were starting to act on these calls.
NRMA Insurance and Suncorp Group today announced they will provide discounts to households using the Bushfire Resilience Rating assessment — a tool developed by the RBC — to make their homes more resilient to bushfires, with other insurers and banks indicating they will follow.
"It's a really good demonstration of their willingness to recognise those effective risk reduction actions, and it's taken really a decade of work with insurers to get to that point," she said.
"There are roles for government to invest in that good action, for insurers to recognise it, and then for households and communities to undertake some of that work.
"And then we've got a system that's actually moving in the right direction."
Community preparedness was one of the few positives to come out of the Climate Council survey, with 76 per cent of respondents saying they had "some degree of confidence" in their communities' preparedness for future climate-related disasters.