Source : Perth Now news
A regional Victorian council is calling for a tax on the major coal, oil and gas companies to fund bushfire and flood recovery, in the wake of devastating natural disasters.
The Ravenswood fire scorched the Mount Alexander shire area in January, and councillor Lucas Maddock is driving the push for a national levy and compensation fund after he narrowly escaped disaster.
“It was only the luck of a wind change that meant the recent Ravenswood fire didn’t reach our family home in Barkers Creek – we hear it was about five minutes off,” he said.
Mr Maddock says his home insurance has risen 20 per cent in one year, and his neighbours can’t afford to pay for insurance costs being driven up by greenhouse gas emissions and the reality of worsening disasters.
“The big polluting corporations are causing this damage and must pay their fair share,” Mr Maddock said.
“If we don’t get the big polluters to pay for the damage they are doing it will be our residents, business and farmers left paying for it through increased levies and rates, cut services, or further diversion of our taxes – which should be funding our schools, health services and roads.
“A National Climate Compensation Fund, paid for by the corporations whose pollution is driving this crisis, is not just fair, it is essential,” Mr Maddock said.
The Mount Alexander Shire Council passed the motion last week, will take its campaign to the Victorian council conference next month, and are lobbying the local federal Labor MP Lisa Chesters and Climate Change Minister Chris Bowen.
A spokesperson for Assistant Climate Change Minister, Josh Wilson, said since coming to power the federal Labor government had directed $6.3bn into climate adaptation and resilience, with $1bn over five years committed to the main risk reduction Disaster Ready Fund.
The Assistant Minister’s office did not directly respond when asked if he supported a levy on major polluters to pay for climate change-related effects.
Instead, the spokesperson pointed to eight gigawatts of renewable energy being added to the grid since 2022, and a majority of the national electricity markets running on renewables as of the end of 2025.
“The Albanese government’s plan to roll out more, cheaper renewables is working. It is putting downward pressure on bills,” the spokesperson said.
In particular, the federal government’s $100m community energy upgrades fund had been funding the electrification of town halls, public swimming pools and solar energy.
The Ravenswood fire ignited on January 9 in the midst of a catastrophic heatwave across Victoria; one of 10 major fires burning in the second week of the year.
The blaze wreaked havoc on the town of Harcourt, population 1000. Major employer Harcourt Cooperative Cool Stores was badly damaged. At least 55 homes and businesses were destroyed in Harcourt and Ravenswood.
Anna Hedigan’s partner fought the fires, and she has thrown her support behind a levy on major polluters to pay for the effects of greenhouse gases.
“Every time, it is local ratepayers and council budgets that carry the costs of recovery and repair,” Ms Hedigan said.
“Big polluters are making billions in profit while communities like ours are left to clean up the mess. That is not fair, and it has to change.
“This community has lived through back-to-back fires, floods and drought … It is only fair that the corporations whose pollution is driving this crisis contribute to fixing it.”
A psychologist in nearby Castlemaine, Susie Burke, says the effects of drought, fires, floods and insurance price hikes are a huge burden.
“What this community is calling for is not just financially fair, it is essential for their long-term wellbeing,” Dr Burke said.
“People in this community know intimately what it’s like to be smashed by increasingly frequent and intense extreme weather events caused by climate pollution.”
Figures from the Australia Institute show federal and state governments provide $14.9bn annually in fossil fuel subsidies, which is 14 times the nation’s $4.75bn disaster response fund.
Analysis from the Climate Media centre shows fires, floods and cyclones cost every Australian household an average of $3800 a year – about $38bn in total.
