Council cites 2022 flood and Cyclone Alfred costs
Tweed Shire Council unanimously backed a National Climate Compensation Fund on 17th July after the 2022 flood cost the shire $257 million.
The motion asks the Federal Government to investigate how coal, oil and gas corporations could help fund disaster relief, mitigation and adaptation.
Councillors passed the motion on Thursday, weeks after the Australian Local Government Association National General Assembly in Canberra backed the same call unanimously.
Councillor Nola Firth moved the motion for Tweed Shire Council and linked it to recent damage across the shire.
Firth said Cyclone Alfred uprooted hundreds of trees and extensively damaged infrastructure in Tweed Shire.
“The 2022 flood cost, just in the Tweed, was $257 million with an almost $3 million shortfall being paid for out of Council’s own budget,” Firth said.
She said that loss hit while NSW councils were already under significant financial stress.
ALGA assembly in Canberra
Meanwhile, the national vote in Canberra added momentum to a campaign that local government leaders supported only weeks earlier.
Tweed Shire is the eighth council in Australia to support the proposal, joining the City of Sydney, Byron Shire, City of Parramatta, City of Newcastle and City of Hobart.
Jess Miller, Deputy Lord Mayor of the City of Sydney, moved the earlier Sydney motion that helped spark the national campaign.
Supporters want major polluters to help cover climate damage instead of leaving councils, ratepayers and households to foot the bill.
The cost gap has widened sharply because insured climate disaster losses are now 12 times higher than 20 years ago.
Over the same period, local government revenue grew only three times, leaving councils with less capacity to repair damage and strengthen infrastructure.
As a result, backers say a Climate Compensation Fund would give councils more resources to manage climate damage and support safer, more resilient communities.
Tweed resident MJ Johnston described the 2022 flood in Pottsville, where friends lost homes and a family member was evacuated from a caravan park in the middle of the night.
After the flood, Johnston spent months rebuilding an uncle’s caravan so he had somewhere to live.
“Even now, years later, many people are still traumatised every time heavy rain is forecast,” Johnston said.
Johnston also argued that ordinary families already facing a cost-of-living crisis should not carry rebuilding costs alone when pollution from the largest emitters is making floods more severe.
