Inverloch Surf Beach, 2023
By Catherine Watson
BASS Coast has joined the chorus of councils calling for fossil fuel companies to pay for the impacts of climate change.
A notice of motion from Cr Mat Morgan at Wednesday’s council meeting highlighted the mounting costs of extreme weather on residents, businesses and council budgets.
It called on the federal government to introduce a levy on major fossil fuel companies and launch an inquiry into whether national adaptation funding is falling short.
Cr Morgan said Australia’s first national risk climate risk assessment, released last year, found 750,000 properties may become uninsurable by 2050.
BASS Coast has joined the chorus of councils calling for fossil fuel companies to pay for the impacts of climate change.
A notice of motion from Cr Mat Morgan at Wednesday’s council meeting highlighted the mounting costs of extreme weather on residents, businesses and council budgets.
It called on the federal government to introduce a levy on major fossil fuel companies and launch an inquiry into whether national adaptation funding is falling short.
Cr Morgan said Australia’s first national risk climate risk assessment, released last year, found 750,000 properties may become uninsurable by 2050.
Cr Mat Morgan Cr Morgan said Australia’s first national risk climate risk assessment, released last year, found 750,000 properties may become uninsurable by 2050.
“That’s 24 years away. One and a half million Australians at risk from sea level rise. In 2050 I’ll be 52 years old. This isn’t theoretical for my generation.
“We’re putting up hundreds of metres of sand and rock bag walls now. Every month we come in here either with petitions asking us to fund climate mitigation measures, or planning applications for houses in areas that’ll have high tides lapping at their front door by the time I retire.
“The climate risk assessment says we’re on track to wipe $611 billion off the Australian property market by 2050.
“You know which properties they’re referring to? Silverleaves, Inverloch, Grantville. In every one of our council wards. People in our coastal communities are watching their house values decrease, not knowing whether to cut their losses and sell now, or hold on in hope of a buyback scheme.
“And it’s not just Bass Coast, our neighbours in South Gippsland have coastal inundation set to wipe out Venus Bay and Tarwin Lower.”
“That’s 24 years away. One and a half million Australians at risk from sea level rise. In 2050 I’ll be 52 years old. This isn’t theoretical for my generation.
“We’re putting up hundreds of metres of sand and rock bag walls now. Every month we come in here either with petitions asking us to fund climate mitigation measures, or planning applications for houses in areas that’ll have high tides lapping at their front door by the time I retire.
“The climate risk assessment says we’re on track to wipe $611 billion off the Australian property market by 2050.
“You know which properties they’re referring to? Silverleaves, Inverloch, Grantville. In every one of our council wards. People in our coastal communities are watching their house values decrease, not knowing whether to cut their losses and sell now, or hold on in hope of a buyback scheme.
“And it’s not just Bass Coast, our neighbours in South Gippsland have coastal inundation set to wipe out Venus Bay and Tarwin Lower.”
"When I was a kid I was always told if I broke something I’d have to pay for it from my pocket money. Well Exxon, Santos, Woodside, how about it?" |
Bass Coast joins a growing list of councils and organisations calling for fossil fuel companies to pay for their climate impacts.
Thirty-seven local council leaders from across the country have signed an open letter calling on the Federal Government to increase the petroleum resource rent tax to help fund local communities addressing the impacts of climate change.
The Australian Local Government Association is supporting calls for a "National Climate Compensation Fund" to support local government disaster preparedness and recovery, to be funded by higher taxes on fossil fuel companies.
Last month, following a major fire over summer, Mount Alexander Shire councillors voted unanimously for a national tax on major fossil fuel polluters to fund disaster recovery and resilience projects.
On Wednesday, Bass Coast councillors were more divided, with Cr Ron Bauer accusing Cr Morgan of grandstanding. (Cr Morgan is standing as a Greens candidate for Eastern Victoria at the November state election.)
The motion just made it over the line, five votes to four.
For: Crs Mat Morgan, Tim O’Brien, Jon Temby, Tracey Bell, Brett Tessari
Against: Cr Jan Thompson, Ron Bauer, Meg Edwards, Rochelle Halstead
Thirty-seven local council leaders from across the country have signed an open letter calling on the Federal Government to increase the petroleum resource rent tax to help fund local communities addressing the impacts of climate change.
The Australian Local Government Association is supporting calls for a "National Climate Compensation Fund" to support local government disaster preparedness and recovery, to be funded by higher taxes on fossil fuel companies.
Last month, following a major fire over summer, Mount Alexander Shire councillors voted unanimously for a national tax on major fossil fuel polluters to fund disaster recovery and resilience projects.
On Wednesday, Bass Coast councillors were more divided, with Cr Ron Bauer accusing Cr Morgan of grandstanding. (Cr Morgan is standing as a Greens candidate for Eastern Victoria at the November state election.)
The motion just made it over the line, five votes to four.
For: Crs Mat Morgan, Tim O’Brien, Jon Temby, Tracey Bell, Brett Tessari
Against: Cr Jan Thompson, Ron Bauer, Meg Edwards, Rochelle Halstead
      | Cr Jon Temby: “The fossil fuel industry … should contribute significantly to the prevention of and costs of our coastal erosion inundation, wildfires, heatwaves, droughts and other extremes of weather that impact our residents, just as they impact others globally.” Cr Brett Tessari: “The one-in-a-100-year floods or storms are happening every second year. Things are changing. We need to have a fund to help mitigate these extreme weather acts.” Cr Tim O’Brien: “We only need to look at Norway’s resources tax to see how a properly run resources tax can work. It’s wealth fund is now worth $350,00 for every man woman and child.” Cr Jan Thompson: “I do not support the idea of a levy on any fossil fuel company, small or large. The reality is that any tax on these companies will inevitably be passed on.” Cr Ron Bauer: “The Australian weather has always been harsh. Let me remind you of the famous Australian poem by Dorothea Mackellar. If the term climate change had existed then she would have woven it into her poem, I Love a Sunburnt Country, A Land of Climate Change. The Earth's climate and shifting coastlines have been active for millennia." Cr Tracey Bell: “The Local Government Act states that climate change is within the remit of council business.” |