Defence Minister Peter Dutton’s no doubt well-meaning attempt to raise money for Queensland flood victims though a GoFundMe appeal this week revealed two concerning disconnects from reality. One was the Government’s failure to grasp the scope of the new era of climate disasters we now face. The second was a failure to meet expectations for

In the lead-up to Summer, the Australia Institute, emergency leaders, and bushfire survivors have renewed coals for a Climate Levy on fossil fuel exports to help pay for increasing disasters due to climate change. The call follows estimates that the Black Summer bushfires cost Australians over $50 billion, which represents a step change in disaster

A National Climate Disaster Fund, financed by a levy on fossil fuel producers, would help South Australia to recover from the current bushfire crisis and prepare for the worsening fire seasons expected in the future, a leading think tank has said. The Australia Institute is proposing the creation of a National Climate Disaster Fund, financed by a

The government has ignored repeated warnings by the insurance industry over many years about the increasing costs of disasters as a result of climate change and the need to prepare. Last year insurance companies slammed the Morrison government’s failure to fund climate change resilience programs in the 2019 Budget. Just some examples of these warnings

The Australia Institute has welcomed the Government’s $2 billion bushfire recovery fund announcement, but has questioned why regular Australian taxpayers are being asked to pay when a levy on fossil fuel producers would be a more appropriate way to raise the required funding. “Regular Australians should not be forced to pay while fossil fuel producers

The unprecedented national bushfire crisis has highlighted the urgent need for a National Climate Disaster Levy to pay for the immense impending costs of these ongoing disasters. Today the Australia Institute is launching a full-page advertisement in the Sydney Morning Herald renewing its call for the levy. Damage from the catastrophic Black Saturday bushfires in Victoria in

Calls renew for a National Climate Disaster Fund funded by a levy on the emissions of fossil fuel production. The National Climate Disaster would help fund the soaring cost of Australia’s ongoing national bushfire crisis. Australia Institute modelling shows that the levy, set initially at $1 per tonne of embodied emissions, would raise $1.5 billion per

The Australia Institute has today released a detailed proposal for a National Climate Disaster Fund (NCDF), to pay for the escalating costs of natural disasters driven by climate change. Money would be raised for the Fund through a $1 levy per tonne of carbon pollution on fossil fuel production in Australia, which would currently raise