Written by Grace Beattie
The image above is from a 7News article on the long-term implications of the 2022 floods
INTRODUCTION
The flash floods caused by Tropical Cyclone Alfred drained from Brisbane almost as quickly as they rose. Yet we don’t have to look far back to remember the far more devastating 2011 and 2022 floods – the water surging down streets, the lingering smell of the thick dark river mud. And the ordeals of flooding are fresh in mind for people living in North and West Queensland, where record-breaking rain recently dumped volumes of water that could be seen from space.[1]
As Dorothea Mackellar famously wrote over a century ago, “flooding rains” are a well-known part of Australia’s dramatic weather and environment.[2] Photos of people taking shelter on the roofs of houses while murky brown flood water laps around them and footage of livestock frantically paddling to safety are routine in the Australian news cycle.[3] Responding to natural disasters is part of our national identity, with the flood clean-up efforts of informal community “mud armies” often touted as an example of classically Australian values like camaraderie and resilience.[4] Natural disasters are also career-defining opportunities for politicians to take the reins, shape the narrative, showcase their leadership, and improve their public approval rating.
So, Australians are experienced at responding to emergencies. Yet we are ineffective at pre-empting and preventing them. Our dominant policy approach is reactive: we respond to a crisis, then quickly move on—forgetting the need to mitigate the risk of the next crisis. Climate change is seriously affecting the rate and severity of extreme weather events, pushing us into an era of what the Climate Council and the Emergency Leaders for Climate Action describe as “unnatural disasters.”[5] Floods are striking more often, causing greater damage, and disproportionately affecting those who are least able to recover.[6] Australia’s most vulnerable people – such as low income earners whose incomes only slowly recover to pre-flood levels – are hit hardest. [7]
This article will explore current flood risk in Australia, the ways that climate change exacerbates flooding, the insurance implications of increasing flood risk, and potential policy solutions.
FLOOD RISK & CLIMATE CHANGE
Flood risk is a widespread issue in Australia, and one that is becoming increasingly urgent in the context of climate change. Around one in ten homes—over one million private properties—already face some level of flood risk.[8] By 2030, an estimated one in twenty properties across the country will face high or medium risk of riverine flooding.[9]
Flooding is the most damaging and costly type of natural disaster in Australia. The insured, tangible and intangible costs of flooding average $8.8 billion annually,[10] while the 2022 floods caused an estimated $7.7 billion in damage in Queensland alone.[11]
Climate change is expected to significantly intensify existing flood risks, including both flash flooding and riverine flooding. As the climate warms, the CSIRO projects the intensity of heavy rainfall events to increase, which will increase the risk of flash flooding. This increase in intense rainfall is forecast to be especially severe in high emissions scenarios.[12] The Climate Council’s national climate risk map also projects more severe riverine flooding events under high-emissions scenarios, driven by rising sea levels and stronger storm surges.[13]
Significantly, the cost of flood-related damage is not borne equally, which both reveals and reinforces social inequalities. Vulnerable groups—such as people experiencing homelessness, low-income communities living on floodplains, and people with disabilities—are disproportionately affected.[14] These groups often lack the resources needed to prepare for, respond to, and recover from severe flooding events, which exacerbates pre-existing disadvantages. Consider Lismore, where many people are still living in the shells of houses that have been ravaged by repeated flooding because they cannot afford to move or rebuild.[15]
INSURANCE IMPLICATIONS OF CLIMATE CHANGE
Projections about climate change increasing flood risk are having real consequences for everyday people. Insurance bodies, real estate companies, and an official inquiry into flood responses have all acknowledged the mounting threat that climate change poses to flood-prone communities across Australia.[16] The Climate Council’s 2022 ‘Uninsurable Nation’ report predicts that one in 25 Australian homes will be effectively uninsurable by as soon as 2030, due to high annual damage costs from extreme weather events.[17] More than 650,000 properties in Australia are already classed as being both at high risk of climate hazards and uninsurable (either completely or for certain key risks). This number is protected to reach nearly 750,000 properties by 2050 without urgent climate action.[18]
Climate Valuation’s 2024 ‘Going Under’ report divides Australian suburbs into Black Zones and Red Zones. These are, respectively, suburbs where more than 80% of homes, or between 50-80% of homes are at high risk of becoming uninsurable due to riverine flood risk. They have identified 13 suburbs as Black Zones and 15 as Red Zones. The vast majority of the highest-risk cities are clustered on the east coast of Australia in Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria (see map below), and in the highest-risk Black Zones, more than 99% of homes are at high risk.[19]
Insurance coverage is falling in an inverse correlation with the rising flood levels in Australia’s most at-risk areas, for several reasons.[20] Risk-averse insurers are quietly retreating from some flood-prone regions entirely, leaving these areas with a low supply and a high demand for insurance products.[21] Insurers that do chose to continue to offer flood insurance set higher premiums in flood-prone areas to cover the high cost of flood recovery, as well as the cost of reinsurance.[22] As the graph below illustrates, the cost of insurance has risen dramatically since the 2022 East Coast floods, as insurers have factored in the high cost of climate disasters.[23]
There is also a dark cycle at play, because lower income earners are more likely to live in flood-prone areas, where land is more affordable.[24] For Australians who already struggling with affordability stress, paying high premiums for flood coverage is out of reach, so they feel they have no choice but to remain either underinsured or completely uninsured.[25] This means that flood insurance is becoming unaffordable or outright unavailable for exactly the people who need it the most. For example, in the inquiry into flood response, Allianz reported an increase from 62% of its customers with the highest flood risk rating not taking out flood insurance in 2022 to 73% in 2023.[26] Australian families living in the riskiest and most flood-prone areas are being left with the looming certainty that they are just one flood away from disaster.
POTENTIAL POLICY SOLUTIONS
What are the policy options available to the government to address rising flood risk and the growing insurance crisis in Australia? There are three broad tiers of response that the government could consider applying, ranging from a narrow and targeted insurance intervention to widespread flood mitigation and emissions reduction measures.
1. Short-term support to insure properties
First, the government could offer targeted support for individuals and areas that are underinsured. This could involve the government offering subsidies to assist with the cost of insurance or acting as a low-cost backstop reinsurer behind major insurance companies. The concept would be to transfer cost and risk from individuals and companies to the government, which is in theory best prepared to bear it.[27] This approach would enable individuals to afford to pay expensive insurance premiums and encourage risk-averse insurance companies to take on the burden of insuring areas at a high risk of flooding. Insurance payouts would help people recover from costly, destructive floods and get their lives back on track.
As appealingly simple as a narrowly targeted solution may seem, there are several issues with this approach. For instance, it will not prevent floods from occurring or becoming more frequent. Although the government is better resourced than individual Australians, it cannot bear the cost of insurance and flood recovery indefinitely, particularly as these events become more severe. Floods impact public infrastructure too, for example by ripping up roads, which causes an enormous cost burden for the government.[28] In addition, the cost of a flood cannot be measured in pure dollar value. Floods damage lives in ways that money alone can’t repair, stripping people of their history, their sense of safety and their sentimental possessions. Insurance payouts can be cold comfort to people standing in the muddy wreckage that a flood leaves behind in a living room or a bedroom, with family photos and precious childhood toys ruined forever.
2. Flood mitigation via climate conscious urban planning
Noting these limitations of a narrow policy approach focussed solely on flooding, how might the government do more to prevent these destructive events from ruining homes and lives? One approach would be using climate-conscious urban planning to mitigate flood risks.
This could include future-proofing building codes in line with the most severe modelled outcomes of climate change risks to ensure that we are building in climate-resilient ways. This could mean expanding and strengthening existing water sensitive urban design guidelines and making compliance with these guidelines mandatory for project approval.[29] Australia did update the climate change portion of its flood design guidelines recently, but these guidelines only apply to future developments, leaving existing homes and infrastructure vulnerable to flooding.[30] To address this, the government could also consider providing grants to homeowners to enable them to mitigate against, or adapt to, flood risk. For example, homeowners could lift their houses up onto stilts, as is common in Brisbane, or use a number of other techniques recommended by architects who specialise in flood-resilient design.[31]
A more ambitious and widespread approach could involve land buy backs, prioritising new development of high land and prohibiting development in known flood-prone areas (such as the government has done in Lismore).[32] It could also involve retrofitting and redesigning public spaces to be more absorbent, such as by incorporating urban green spaces, replacing concrete with permeable alternatives, and building large underground water storage facilities. This type of solution is being used on a huge scale in China, where the government is aiming for 80% of cities to meet so-called “Sponge City” design guidelines by 2030.[33]
The benefits of these more imaginative and large-scale solutions are numerous. For example, integrating more green spaces into urban landscapes not only mitigates against flood risk, but also boosts liveability, improves air quality, increases biodiversity, and captures carbon to mitigate the risks of climate change more generally.[34] Green spaces can also cool urban landscapes significantly, reducing the health risks of heatwaves as the climate changes.[35]
However, it is important not to look at this possible solution through ‘green-coloured glasses,’ accepting it uncritically because of the environmental upsides. We need to consider the downsides as well. Large-scale redesign of cities would be costly and disruptive. Relocating people from their homes would likely be enormously unpopular, and rendering areas of waterfront land unusable would have significant financial ramifications. There might also be a perception that green spaces and wetlands are a waste of land, compared to residential property.
3. Cutting emissions to decrease the impacts of climate change
So, insurance won’t stop flood damage, and urban design changes may happen in a scattered and piecemeal way due to the cost and possible public resistance. That leaves one other option available to governments concerned about the increasing flood risk in Australia: targeting climate change at its root by cutting greenhouse gas emissions.
Records kept by the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water show that Australia’s carbon emissions fell by 0.6% last year, compared to 2023.[36] While this modest decrease is a small step in the right direction, it masks an inconvenient truth. Despite only 0.33% of the world’s population living in Australia, our country is responsible for 1.08% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions.[37] A recent report commissioned by the Australian Human Rights Institute UNSW and carried out by Climate Analytics revealed that when we take Australia’s fossil fuel exports into account, the country is responsible for around 4.5% of global fossil carbon dioxide emissions.[38] Australia’s fossil fuel exports from 1961 to 2023 are cumulatively responsible for the release of 30 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide, and this figure is set to increase by 50% over the next decade.[39]
Australia’s carbon footprint is hugely disproportionate to our country’s population, meaning that we are rapidly chewing through the world’s remaining carbon budget. Cheery statistics about the high uptake of renewable energy in Australia – for example, in 2023, 35% of Australia’s total electricity generation was from renewable sources – hide this ugly fact. It is time for Australia to be honest about the role it plays in climate change, become genuinely committed to slashing emissions, and move towards a cleaner, less flood-prone world.
Of course, there would be an economic downside to this, as fossil fuel extraction accounts for approximately 4.5% of Australia’s gross value added, so it is a significant contributor to the country’s economy.[40] However, moving towards producing and exporting renewable energy technologies, such as through the Future Made in Australia scheme, could transform and strengthen the economy as well as reducing our national carbon emissions significantly.[41]
In addition, it is important to remember that the economic cost of not addressing climate change is far higher than the cost of taking action now. The 2006 Stern Review, which was commissioned by the British government, estimated that the global cost of climate change inaction could be equivalent to losing at least 5% of global GDP each year, potentially rising to 20% or more.[42] This report found that the evidence for climate change is very robust, and warned that urgent action and commitment from governments worldwide is needed to stave off its worst possible effects.[43]
The benefits of the government intervening at this level would be far more widespread than just mitigating against flood risk. It would also tackle many other impacts of climate change as well: heatwaves, health risks, severe weather events and coral bleaching, to name just a few.[44]
CONCLUSION
To use a phrase coined by the CEO of the Carbon Disclosure Project, ‘if climate change is the shark, water is its teeth.’[45] Water shortages and surpluses are some of the most visible and most damaging signs of climate change, and they already affect many Australians in profoundly harmful ways. Rapid and ambitious solutions are needed to cure the injustice of climate-related flood risk, which hurt the most vulnerable and dash hopes of achieving equality in this country.
The framework set out above demonstrates that each of the three possible levels for government intervention has strengths and weaknesses. A narrow intervention focussed on improving insurance coverage will not stop flood risk from increasing due to climate change. On the other end of the scale, redesigning our cities to mitigate flood risk will be costly and disruptive, as will widespread changes to reduce Australia’s contributions to global carbon emissions. The true solution to this thorny problem will likely involve a combination of all three levels. For example, the government could prioritise supporting Australians to access insurance short-term, while also focusing on building climate resilience in urban areas and decreasing emissions long-term.
Yes, this will be expensive. That is undeniable. However, the evidence overwhelmingly suggests that the cost would be worth it. To paraphrase the old saying about a stitch in time: a dollar in time, saves five. Chief executive officer of Natural Hazards Research Australia, Andrew Gissing, estimates that every $1 spent on retrofitting, raising or buying-back homes saves $5 on potential flood response and recovery.[46] This perfectly parallels the Stern report, in which the authors calculated that each country spending 1% of its GDP on climate mitigation would avoid the loss 5% of global GDP in responding to climate damage every year.[47]
Following Cyclone Alfred, the government has estimated that the total cost of national disaster support will rise to a minimum of $13.5 billion and has allocated $1.2 billion to the Contingency Reserve for the express purpose of responding to future disasters.[48] The government recognises that the cost of disaster recovery is rising, but does not yet seem to have realised that taking a proactive approach and getting on the front foot with disaster preparation can save these costs.
Or perhaps, to take a more cynical view, the problem is not that our politicians are unaware, but that they are unwilling. Responses to natural disasters are often defining moments in politicians’ career trajectories, and their public approval ratings can sink or soar depending on how they manage a crisis. Do they capture the genuine pain people feel and manage, somehow, to transform despair into determination? Think of Anna Bligh’s famous 2011 speech, when she consoled Queenslanders in the wake of the state’s worst ever flooding event. “We are Queenslanders,” the then-Premier said. “We're the people that they breed tough, north of the border. We're the ones that they knock down and we get up again.”[49]
Disaster response can be dramatic and glamorous work, a chance for politicians to demonstrate how well they fit within our national narrative of endurance and resilience. Swooping in with stimulus payments and sending in the military to help with shovelling mud in the wake of yet another flood are visible, high-profile signs that the government hears and understands the struggles of ordinary voters, and that they are on our side.[50] And while that may well be true, these dramatic disaster recovery efforts seem to come at the cost of preparing appropriately for future disasters, which could protect Australians more effectively.
Perhaps it is time for Australia to form a new national identity; one based on understanding our unique environment and using the best science to pre-empt the challenges it will throw at us. Disaster preparation is slow, disruptive, costly and frustrating. It is both politically and publicly unpopular. Yet, in a world of rising temperatures and rising flood levels, it is urgently necessary.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Thank you to my good friends Ben Roden-Cohen, Henry Smith and James Arthur for your editorial assistance. You helped me to make my points as clear and strong as possible, and to wrangle the footnotes into compliance with the AGLC! This article would not be what it is without you. Thank you also to Professors Justine Bell-James, Neil McIntyre and Steven Kenway for meeting with me recently to discuss climate change and flooding. I learned so much from your collective wealth of knowledge about environmental law and water management.
REFERENCES
[1] Emily Dobson, ‘NASA satellite images show scale of flooding in outback Queensland’, ABC News (online, 4 April 2025) <https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-04-04/nasa-satellite-images-flooding-western-queensland/105136294>.
[2] Dorothea Mackellar, My Country (1908) <https://www.dorotheamackellar.com.au/my-country/>.
[3] See, eg, Emma Siossian, ‘How elderly couple survived Lismore's record flood inside their roof’, ABC News (online, 1 March 2022) <https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-03-01/lismore-residents-recount-their-flood-ordeals-stuck-in-roof/100869384>.
[4] See, eg, Queensland Parliament, Parliamentary Debates, Legislative Assembly, 16 March 2022, 445 (Steve Minnikin MP) <https://documents.parliament.qld.gov.au/events/han/2022/2022_03_16_WEEKLY.pdf>.
[5] Climate Council and Emergency Leaders for Climate Action, The Great Deluge: Australia’s New Era of Unnatural Disasters (Report, 28 November 2022) <https://www.climatecouncil.org.au/resources/the-great-deluge-australias-new-era-of-unnatural-disasters/>.
[6] Conrad Wasko, Andrew Dowdy and Seth Westra, ‘The extreme floods which devastated Spain are hitting more often. Is Australia ready for the next one?’, The Conversation (online, 6 November 2024) <https://theconversation.com/the-extreme-floods-which-devastated-spain-are-hitting-more-often-is-australia-ready-for-the-next-one-242686>; CSIRO, State of the Climate (31 October 2024) <https://www.csiro.au/en/research/environmental-impacts/climate-change/State-of-the-Climate>.
[7] Mehmet Ulubasoglu, ‘The Unequal Burden of Disasters in Australia’ (2020) 35(4) Australian Journal of Emergency Management, 8 <https://knowledge.aidr.org.au/resources/ajem-october-2020-the-unequal-burden-of-disasters-in-australia/#:~:text=That%20is%2C%20the%20income%20gap,persisted%20in%20the%20medium%20term>.
[8] Insurance Council of Australia, Climate Change Impact Series: Flooding and Future Risks, (Report, May 2022), 4 <https://insurancecouncil.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/2202May_Flooding-and-Future-Risks_final.pdf>.
[9] Climate Council, Uninsurable Nation: Australia’s Most Climate-Vulnerable Places (Report, 3 May 2022), iii <https://www.climatecouncil.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/CC_MVSA0302-CC-Report-Federal-Election_V4-Single-1.pdf>.
[10] ‘Understanding the causes and impacts of flooding’, CSIRO (Web Page, 17 January 2024) <https://www.csiro.au/en/research/disasters/floods/causes-and-impacts>.
[11] Deloitte, The Social, Financial and Economic Costs of the 2022 South East Queensland Rainfall and Flooding Event (Report, June 2022), 4 <https://www.qra.qld.gov.au/sites/default/files/2022-07/dae_report_-_south_east_queensland_rainfall_and_flooding_event_-_8_june_2022.pdf>.
[12] ‘Understanding the Causes and Impacts of Flooding’, CSIRO (Web Page, 17 January 2024) <https://www.csiro.au/en/research/disasters/floods/causes-and-impacts>.
[13] ‘Climate Risk Map of Australia’, Climate Council (Interactive Map Tool, 14 April 2025) <https://www.climatecouncil.org.au/resources/climate-risk-map/>.
[14] See, eg, Mehmet Ulubasoglu, ‘The Unequal Burden of Disasters in Australia’ (2020) 35(4) Australian Journal of Emergency Management, 8 <https://knowledge.aidr.org.au/resources/ajem-october-2020-the-unequal-burden-of-disasters-in-australia/#:~:text=That%20is%2C%20the%20income%20gap,persisted%20in%20the%20medium%20term>; Jodie Bailie et al, ‘Exposure to Risk and Experiences of River Flooding for People with Disability and Carers in Rural Australia: A Cross-Sectional Survey’ (2022) 12(8) BMJ Open <https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9252212/#R21>.
[15] David Kempster, ‘Case Study: Lismore’s Long-Term Trauma’, Groundsure (Web Page, 7 February 2024) <https://www.groundsure.com.au/case-study-lismores-long-term-trauma/>; Jordyn Beazley, ‘“Stripped to our bare bones”: three years on from the floods, Lismore’s housing crisis is worse than ever’, The Guardian (online, 4 March 2025) <https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/mar/03/lismore-floods-aftermath-housing-crisis>.
[16] See, eg, Insurance Council of Australia, Climate Change Impact Series: Flooding and Future Risks, (Report, May 2022) <https://insurancecouncil.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/2202May_Flooding-and-Future-Risks_final.pdf>; Domain, Flood: The Risk to Australia’s Property Market (Report, 2023) <https://s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/ffx.adcentre.com.au/domain/2024/CRTV-3128/Domain_Flood+Report.pdf>; House of Representatives Standing Committee on Economics, Flood Failure to Future Fairness: Report on the Inquiry into Insurers’ Responses to 2022 Major Floods Claims (Final Report, October 2024) <https://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/download/committees/reportrep/RB000297/toc_pdf/Floodfailuretofuturefairness.pdf>.
[17] Climate Council, Uninsurable Nation: Australia’s Most Climate-Vulnerable Places (Report, 3 May 2022), ii, 22-25 <https://www.climatecouncil.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/CC_MVSA0302-CC-Report-Federal-Election_V4-Single-1.pdf>.
[18] Climate Council and Climate Valuation, At Our Front Door: Escalating Climate Risks for Aussie Homes (Report, 6 April 2025), 49 <https://www.climatecouncil.org.au/resources/escalating-climate-risks-for-aussies-homes/>.
[19] Climate Valuation, Going Under: The Imperative to Act in Australia’s High Flood Risk Suburbs (Report, June 2024) <https://app-na1.hubspotdocuments.com/documents/7735589/view/820005877?accessId=b42d30>.
[20] House of Representatives Standing Committee on Economics, Flood Failure to Future Fairness: Report on the Inquiry into Insurers’ Responses to 2022 Major Floods Claims (Final Report, October 2024), ch 9 <https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/House/Economics/FloodInsuranceInquiry/Report/Chapter_9_-_Improving_affordability_and_access_to_flood_insurance>.
[21] Climate and Regional Reporting Team, ‘One Brick Higher’, ABC News (online, 15 April 2025) <https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-04-15/climate-change-pushing-up-insurance-risk-data-shows/105154662>.
[22] Climate Council and Climate Valuation, At Our Front Door: Escalating Climate Risks for Aussie Homes (Report, 6 April 2025), 55 <https://www.climatecouncil.org.au/resources/escalating-climate-risks-for-aussies-homes/>.
[23] Climate and Regional Reporting Team, ‘One Brick Higher’, ABC News (online, 15 April 2025) <https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-04-15/climate-change-pushing-up-insurance-risk-data-shows/105154662>.
[24] Jens Zinn and Julia Plass, ‘How Extreme Weather and Costs of Housing and Insurance Trap Some Households in a Vicious Cycle’, The Conversation (online, 18 October 2024) < https://theconversation.com/how-extreme-weather-and-costs-of-housing-and-insurance-trap-some-households-in-a-vicious-cycle-241572>.
[25] Actuaries Institute, Funding for Flood Costs: Affordability, Availability and Public Policy Options (Report, August 2023), 11 <https://www.actuaries.asn.au/docs/thought-leadership-reports/funding-costs-for-floods.pdf>.
[26] House of Representatives Standing Committee on Economics, Flood Failure to Future Fairness: Report on the Inquiry into Insurers’ Responses to 2022 Major Floods Claims (Final Report, October 2024), ch 9 <https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/House/Economics/FloodInsuranceInquiry/Report/Chapter_9_-_Improving_affordability_and_access_to_flood_insurance>.
[27] Actuaries Institute, Funding for Flood Costs: Affordability, Availability and Public Policy Options (Report, August 2023), 5 <https://www.actuaries.asn.au/docs/thought-leadership-reports/funding-costs-for-floods.pdf>; Julia Plass and Jens Zinn, ‘Shifting risks back to the state? Flood insurance and responsibility in the face of climate change in Australia’ (2024) 113 International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction <https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2212420924006368>.
[28] See, eg, Julia André, ‘Flood damage to outback Qld roads doubles grazier freight bills and isolates residents’, ABC News (online, 12 April 2025) <https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-04-12/flood-damaged-roads-double-freight-bill-isolate-residents/105156204>.
[29] See, eg, South East Queensland Healthy Waterways Partnership, Concept Design Guidelines for Water Sensitive Urban Design (Guidelines, Version 1, March 2009) <https://www.hlw.org.au/resources/downloads/water-by-design/test/guidelines-1/346-concept-design-guidelines-for-water-sensitive-urban-design-2009/file>.
[30] Conrad Wasko, Andrew Dowdy and Seth Westra, ‘The extreme floods which devastated Spain are hitting more often. Is Australia ready for the next one?’, The Conversation (online, 6 November 2024) <https://theconversation.com/the-extreme-floods-which-devastated-spain-are-hitting-more-often-is-australia-ready-for-the-next-one-242686>; Geoscience Australia, Commonwealth of Australia, A Guide to Flood Estimation: Book 1 – Scope and Philosophy (Version 4.2, 2019) 6 <https://www.arr-software.org/pdfs/ARR_190514_Book1_V4.2.pdf>.
[31] See, eg, ‘Flood Proof House Designs’, Dion Seminara Architecture (Web Page, 2024) <https://dsarchitecture.com.au/services/flood-proof-house-designs/>.
[32] NSW Reconstruction Authority, ‘Home Buyback Process | Resilient Homes Program’, NSW Government (Web Page, n.d.) <https://www.nsw.gov.au/departments-and-agencies/nsw-reconstruction-authority/our-work/resilient-homes-program/home-buybacks/home-buyback-process>.
[33] Faiza Chikhi et al, ‘Review of Sponge City Implementation in China: Performance and Policy’ (2023) 88(10) Water Science and Technology 2499 <https://iwaponline.com/wst/article/88/10/2499/98252/Review-of-Sponge-City-implementation-in-China>.
[34] Roberta Belanova, ‘Microclimate Modeling to Optimize Sponge Cities for Flood Resilience’, One Click LCA (Web Page, 15 November 2024) <https://oneclicklca.com/en/resources/articles/microclimate-modeling-to-optimize-sponge-cities-for-flood-resilience#:~:text=Key components of sponge cities,runoff%2C and recharge groundwater systems>.
[35] Prashant Kumar et al, ‘Urban heat mitigation by green and blue infrastructure: Drivers, effectiveness, and future needs’ (2024) 5(2) The Innovation <https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666675824000262>.
[36] Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water, ‘Australia's Greenhouse Gas Emissions: March 2024 Quarterly Update’ (Media Release, 30 August 2024) <https://www.dcceew.gov.au/about/news/nggi-march-2024-quarterly-update>.
[37] ‘Countries in the World by Population (2025)’, Worldometer (Web Page, 2025) <https://www.worldometers.info/world-population/population-by-country/>; European Union, GHG Emissions of All World Countries (Report, 2024) <https://edgar.jrc.ec.europa.eu/report_2024#emissions_table>.
[38] Climate Analytics, Australia's Global Fossil Fuel Carbon Footprint (Report, August 2024) 16 <https://climateanalytics.org/publications/australias-global-fossil-fuel-carbon-footprint>.
[39] Ibid.
[40] Paul Burke, ‘On the Way Out: Government Revenues from Fossil Fuels in Australia’ (2023) 67(1) Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics 1 <https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1467-8489.12503>.
[41] ‘Future Made in Australia Innovation Fund’, Australian Renewable Energy Agency (Web Page, May 2024) <https://arena.gov.au/funding/future-made-in-australia-innovation-fund/>.
[42] Nicholas Stern, The Economics of Climate Change: The Stern Review (Final Report, January 2007) <https://www.lse.ac.uk/granthaminstitute/publication/the-economics-of-climate-change-the-stern-review/>.
[43] Ibid.
[44] See, eg, ‘Climate Change Impacts’, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Web Page, 2 April 2025) <https://www.noaa.gov/education/resource-collections/climate/climate-change-impacts>.
[45] Norges Bank, ‘CDP launches a global water disclosure project to raise business awareness of water-related risk’ (Press Release, 19 November 2009) <https://www.norges-bank.no/en/news-events/news/Press-releases/2009/Press-release-19-November-2009/>.
[46] Andrew Messenger and Ben Smee, ‘Cyclone Alfred brought Brisbane’s fourth major flood in 50 years – can the city be flood-proofed?’, The Guardian (online, 15 March 2025) <https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/mar/15/brisbane-flood-proof-housing-developments>.
[47] Nicholas Stern, The Economics of Climate Change: The Stern Review (Final Report, January 2007) <https://www.lse.ac.uk/granthaminstitute/publication/the-economics-of-climate-change-the-stern-review/>.
[48] The Treasury, Australian Government, ‘Recovery and Rebuild’, Budget 2025-26 (Web Page, 25 March 2025) <https://budget.gov.au/content/05-recovery-and-rebuild.htm>.
[49] ABC News (Australia), ‘Bligh appeals to Queensland spirit’ (Media Release, 12 January 2011) < https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDZM90H9CW8>.
[50] See, eg, Australian Government Defence, ‘Operation Flood Assist 2022’ (Media Release, 8 April 2022) <https://www.defence.gov.au/news-events/news/2022-04-08/operation-flood-assist-2022>.