ICA proposes rolling resilience funding program
ICA proposes rolling resilience funding program
20 March 2023
The Federal Government should move to a rolling 10-year resilience funding program, given climate change and natural disaster impacts, the Insurance Council of Australia (ICA) says in a pre-Budget submission.
The Albanese Government’s first Budget in October last year delivered up to $200 million a year in Federal investment through the Disaster Ready Fund (DRF). State and territory agencies apply for matching funding for projects under the scheme.
“Given the long-term challenges posed by worsening extreme weather in Australia, investment in disaster resilience will clearly be required well beyond the 2028-29 end date for budgeted DRF spending,” ICA’s submission says.
Moving to a rolling 10-year program, as with funding for land transport infrastructure and defence spending, would help communities and governments to plan and develop a pipeline of investments. The funding should also be indexed for inflation, it says.
The submission suggests the Federal Government “may wish to incentivise” high-quality investments by providing greater than 50% funding for high return on investment projects in identified high risk areas, and that any unused allocation in any year should be rolled forward.
ICA outlines nine policy areas identified as a priority for the Federal Government to put downward pressure on premiums and reduce extreme weather risks for communities.
“The Insurance Council is eager to collaborate with the Commonwealth in the Budget to develop further positive policies to improve the affordability and availability of insurance in a changing climate,” CEO Andrew Hall said.
Other areas highlighted include land-use planning, construction code standards, incentives for the removal of state insurance taxes, investment in a natural hazards database, action on cyber resilience, encouragement of electric vehicle take-up and moves to address issues in the public liability market.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers is scheduled to deliver the Federal Budget on May 9.
