Climate Adaptation & Resilience

Every person deserves the security of knowing their home and community are protected from the growing risks of climate-driven natural disasters. As the climate crisis worsens, rising insurance costs and unaffordable premiums are leaving millions of households vulnerable.

While Labor and the Conservatives offer limited, piecemeal measures, the Greens are committed to addressing this crisis by ensuring communities are prepared, protected, and supported, with fairness and accountability at the core.

By holding coal, gas, and oil companies accountable under the "polluter pays" principle and prioritising transparency and disaster resilience, we aim to lower premiums and build a more secure future for everyone.

Cheaper insurance in a climate crisis

The rising intensity of climate-driven natural disasters, such as floods and bushfires, is driving up home insurance premiums, with an average increase of 30.8% between September 2022 and September 2024. 

High-risk communities face the most significant financial strain, as 1.6 million households already experience insurance stress, projected to grow dramatically by 2030. 

The Greens are committed to making insurance more affordable and ensuring greater climate resilience by holding fossil fuel companies accountable, enhancing transparency, and supporting disaster preparedness.

The Greens' plan:

  • Expand affordable insurance options by broadening the Cyclone Reinsurance Pool to cover all natural disasters.
  • Ensure fossil fuel companies contribute to disaster costs by legislating their contributions to the reinsurance pool and Disaster Ready Fund.
  • Increase transparency in insurance pricing by empowering the ACCC to monitor and report on premium prices quarterly and requiring insurers to provide clear breakdowns of premium costs and adjustments.
  • Provide better access to disaster risk information by establishing a public national disaster risk map and database through the Australian Climate Service and National Emergency Management Agency 
  • Reduce insurance costs by incentivising state governments to abolish house and car insurance stamp duty.

 

 

Climate Response Service

As climate-fuelled floods, fires and cyclones become more frequent and more severe, communities across Australia are bearing the cost—with too little support.

Volunteers are doing extraordinary work to protect and clean up after disasters, but they’re often left to do it alone, while governments remain under-prepared and slow to act.

The Greens are proposing a new Climate Response Service—a nationally coordinated, community-led service that will help prepare for disasters and support recovery. 

The Greens’ plan will ensure communities are better prepared and supported when disasters hit, and that those profiting from the climate crisis pay for the damage they’re causing.

The Greens' plan:

  • Establish a national Climate Response Service, managed by the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), to provide skilled, scalable disaster response and recovery teams.
  • Fund the service by ending fossil fuel subsidies and making coal and gas corporations pay their fair share of tax.
  • Support communities before and after disasters by:
    • Recruiting, training and supporting a reserve of volunteers who can be deployed under the direction of emergency services like the SES and RFS.
    • Coordinating logistics such as sandbag stockpiles and supply chains before disasters strike.
    • Strengthening existing volunteer networks by providing organisational and logistical support during emergencies.
    • Assisting with clean-up and recovery after disasters, including community rebuilding efforts where needed.
  • Ensure the ADF is only called in as a last resort, reserving its resources for national defence and the most severe emergencies.

 

 

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