The problem facing local government:
According to the Australia Institute, disaster costs in every state are increasing faster than council income and, although state and federal governments contribute to recovery, councils carry substantial infrastructure liabilities and operational responsibilities.

The Structural Gap:
Council revenue is not keeping up with growing adaptation needs and rising disaster recovery costs. Without structural reform, councils will be faced with a systemic funding challenge and will be forced to increase rates, cut services, defer maintenance, reduce capital works and increase debt exposure.

The “Polluter Pays” principle:
This is a common concept in environmental law, those responsible for pollution should bear the costs of the damage this causes. At present, that principle is not being applied to climate damage.
That is why we are calling for this principle to be applied to coal and gas exports corporations in order to pay for the damage councils and communities are experiencing and paying to repair.

The Climate Compensation Fund:
A nationally administered fund financed by a levy on coal and fas export corporations. Revenue from this levy would be ring-fenced to address climate impacts, disaster management and adaptation.
Rather than relying solely on Ad Hoc disaster funding rounds, councils would have access to a structural revenue stream aligned with the scale of climate impacts.
This would improve long term financial planning, asset management and risk mitigation.