Matt Thistlethwaite (Kingsford Smith, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for the Republic) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

What's the cost of climate change? The residents of northern Australia are quickly learning that there is a cost associated with climate change and this government's inaction on climate change, and it's increasing every year. They're paying for it through their insurance premiums. The costs faced by residents and businesses on their home and contents insurance and their strata policies is considerably higher in the north of Australia than it is in the rest of the country. Premiums for strata in places like Townsville or Cairns are three times higher than the rest of the country, and for home and contents are double that for the rest of Australia. Why? The risk of damage due to cyclones or floods in these areas is significantly higher, due to the impacts of extreme weather events associated with climate change.

Whilst the Morrison government continues to ignore the reality of climate change, and that it's occurring, insurance companies and their actuaries are not. The Insurance Council of Australia and insurers have given numerous warnings over the past decade to this government about the risks of climate change and extreme weather events, and the effect that they're having on premiums paid by Australians, but the government continues to ignore them.

Australians are paying the price. I've met with residents in Townsville, in Cairns and in other places in the north of Australia who simply can't get cover anymore for their home or contents or their strata unit or can't afford the premiums. Many of them are just putting aside the cost of the premium that they would have paid each year and saving it in anticipation of damage to their properties. And that risk is coming further and further south each year.

The ACCC has given several reports to the government, with over 40 recommendations, on how to take action to reduce premiums. All we've had from the government for the last seven years is excuses. Not one of those recommendations has been acted upon. While the residents of the north continue to pay more, the government continues to ignore their pleas. The insurance industry isn't. The CEO of Suncorp, Steve Johnston, recently warned that our nation is no better placed to withstand the impacts of extreme weather than we were last year.

One of the recommendations upon which the Morrison government has been called to act is to identify mitigation projects like flood levees, but the Morrison government has still failed to spend one cent of the $4 billion Emergency Response Fund announced over 18 months ago. It's time for this government to live with the reality of climate change, to get real and to understand that there are effects, that it's having effects and that Australians, particularly those in the north, are paying the cost of climate change inaction through their insurance premiums.