“It’s devastating. You spend a lot of time and effort on your house and then watch it sink.”
Sam Bowstead is an architect who specializes in preparing homes to withstand natural disasters. But she felt helpless when her own home in Brisbane flooded in February.
“I’ve worked with people in similar situations. Now this has happened to me,” she says.
“I was surprised how quickly [a água] rose… more than a meter in a few hours. I went from worrying about our property to worrying about our safety.”
In the end, a boat was the only way out.
Bowstead’s experience has become increasingly common for Australians.
In the past three years, record levels of wildfires and floods have killed more than 500 people and billions of animals. Droughts, hurricanes and high tides devastate communities.
Is climate change as important a concern as the cost of living for those who will vote in Saturday’s Australian election? and these issues are getting closer than ever before.
Image: BBC
insurance crisis
According to a report by the Climate Council, Australia is facing an “insurability crisis” and by 2030 one in every 25 homes will be out of insurance. And one in 11 people is at risk of being underinsured.
The Climate Council, which has created an interactive map for Australians to research, says insurance for the highest-risk homes will either be prohibitively expensive or be rejected by providers.
“Climate change is happening here in real time and many Australians now find it impossible to insure their homes and businesses,” says Amanda McKenzie, CEO of the organisation.
Australia’s most exposed state
The biggest problem is in Queensland, which is home to almost 40% of the 500,000 homes that will soon be uninsured.
Queensland has been devastated by flooding in recent months. In February, the state capital Brisbane received more than 70% of the annual average precipitation in just three days.
“I still feel pretty traumatized when it rains so much,” says Michelle Vine, whose east Brisbane home was destroyed along with her decades of work.
“We had to move out of the house, it became uninhabitable.”
Image: Personal archive
Insurers say the flooding, which also hit New South Wales, will be Australia’s most costly weather event. But even before this year, insurance costs skyrocketed.
While rising property prices are a factor, Australia’s top insurance industry organization is pointing its finger at climate change.
The Australian Insurance Board says no part of the country is currently uninsured, but there are “clear accessibility and availability concerns”.
Image: BBC
In the last decade, the amount that insurance companies pay for damages caused by natural disasters has almost doubled.
On average, consumers now pay nearly four times more for home insurance premiums than they did in 2004.
In northern Australia, are these numbers even more extreme? in some cases, 10 times more than elsewhere.
Are more Australians under-insured? Do you buy cheaper policies that cover very little? Or forgo insurance altogether.
“This is probably Australia’s most important cost of living problem,” Antonia Settle, an economist at the University of Melbourne, told BBC News.
“Uninsured families risk losing their most important asset.”
Bargain
It is becoming cheaper to buy and rent properties in high-risk areas, attracting people who often cannot afford adequate insurance, and increasing the financial impact of disasters.
“People aren’t moving away from climate-threatening places in Australia. In fact, they’re probably going to move toward them,” says demographer Liz Allen of the Australian National University.
“Australia’s housing affordability problem is so dire… people see climate disaster almost as a bargain, a way to ensure they have a place of their own.”
“This phenomenon can also exacerbate social inequality and create ‘climate ghettos’,” says Climate Valuation, a risk analysis firm.
Vine is an example of this. He says he’s drawn into vulnerable territory for the price. At the time, he felt like he had “won the lottery.” Bowstead made a similar choice.
And as with Gary Godley in the town of Grantham west of Brisbane, once you’ve entered a risky area, many are nearly impossible to get out.
Given Grantham’s terrible history of flooding – 12 people died there in 2011 – there are no buyers for their homes.
Godley says, “We want out. We can’t afford it.” “We can’t do anything.”
So what can be done?
The government has promised billions of dollars to “reinsure” insurers against large claims from disasters, arguing it will cut premiums in half for people in northern Australia.
But that’s a risky policy and not something the Australian Insurance Board or the country’s industry watchdog wants.
Critics pointed out that disasters are now devastating, often outside northern Australia, in areas not covered by the policy.
Instead, they are urging the government to limit housing development in high-risk areas, consider purchasing properties from some owners, or create incentives for people to make their properties disaster-proof.
But Settle says it’s the obvious answer for seriously tackling the problem of climate change. This is something that successive governments have been reluctant to do, though.
After major bushfires in 2019 and 2020, Australians have been told to prepare for an “alarming” future of simultaneous and increasingly severe disasters.
However, for a country so exposed to climate change, Australia remains one of the world’s largest emitters per capita.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s government has pledged to reduce emissions by 26% by 2030. The Labor Party under Anthony Albanese has promised a cut of 43%.
Both targets are below the 50% recommended by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
coal problem
Most Australians are calling for tougher climate action, but both the ruling party and Labor have been quiet about it during this election campaign.
In the town of Gladstone in central Queensland, the reason for this is obvious.
Coal is an important part of Gladstone’s economy. The product ships from the local port and has helped Australia become the second largest global exporter and create thousands of jobs.
Phil Golby, a local official with the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union, says “change is inevitable” but fears workers in the fossil fuel industry will be left behind.
“I’ve heard a lot of talk. I’ve heard a lot of presentations – but I still haven’t seen a clear path to follow,” says Golby.
“If a new industry comes [para Gladstone]We need to make sure we train our workforce… [e] workers will be a source of income. We can’t begin to see people take a step back.”
Coal is at the center of debates about Australia’s well-being, policy and environmental hazards.
Therefore, phasing out fossil fuels is a politically toxic issue that no major party wants to address directly, especially during elections.
This disappoints Bowstead. For him and many young people, there is a real concern about the impact of climate change on how people will live in Australia in the near future.
“[Isso] It won’t happen – it’s already happening,” he says.
“Looks like we’re going to have to take responsibility and bear the brunt of it much longer than most people currently in power.”
source: Noticias
