Bayside Council call on big polluters to fund safer, stronger community
Climate Media Centre
July 23
Bayside Council has unanimously passed a motion calling for the Federal Government to establish a National Climate Compensation Fund to help keep the Bayside community safe, resilient and financially secure as the council faces the rising costs of extreme weather, flooding and coastal erosion intensified by climate change.
The successful motion, "Protecting Bayside Ratepayers Through Sustainable Climate Funding", calls for the fund to be resourced through a Climate Pollution Levy on major coal, gas and oil corporations – reflecting the contribution their products make to climate change – with a dedicated funding stream for councils in line with the risks identified in the 2025 National Climate Risk Assessment.
Councillor Peter Strong who put forward the motion, said: "This is climate action, but it also is economic justice that ratepayers don't have to foot the bill for something that was caused by billion-dollar corporations pushing fossil fuels.
"So it's a small step, and it's great that this council passed it. I think it’s really positive that Bayside Council showed progressiveness on this issue.
"We are a very low-lying council, there's a lot of scope for inundation, so it's an important issue, and I'm very glad that it passed. I encourage other people around the country to push this motion as well."
As a low-lying coastal municipality, Bayside is increasingly exposed to flooding, coastal erosion, storm surge, sea level rise, extreme rainfall and urban heat, creating growing demands for investment in resilience, adaptation and disaster recovery. A Climate Compensation Fund would give Council a reliable funding stream to strengthen its infrastructure, protect the foreshore and keep the community better prepared, reducing the pressure that rising insurance premiums are already placing on local households.
Mary Pilkington, a renter in Arncliffe said: "Bayside is already experiencing increased risks from climate damage. In Wolli Creek, over 66 per cent of properties are considered to have moderate to high climate risk due to flooding. My own residence suffered through consecutive La Nina weather systems, fighting a never ending battle with mould and flooding in our laundry.
"Now, I look ahead with anxiety to the prospect of going through an El Niño summer without air conditioning. I recently saw a post in a local Facebook group from a resident in Botany whose house insurance had more than doubled, from six thousand five hundred dollars to over nineteen thousand dollars due to their area’s flood risk increasing.
"The science is clear that pollution from the largest emitters is making climate disasters more severe including floods, and communities like ours are paying the price. If we don't establish a compensation fund now, there will be no other option but for local ratepayers to fund the growing cost of recovery.
"I believe those who contribute to the damage should contribute to fixing it—not ordinary families who are already grappling with a cost-of-living crisis while rebuilding their homes, their communities and their lives."
Nationally, a Climate Compensation Fund would help address a growing funding gap: fires, floods and cyclones already cost Australia an estimated $38 billion each year, with costs projected to rise to $73 billion annually by 2060. Local governments are on the frontline with 434 of Australia's 537 councils affected by climate disasters between 2019 and 2023.
The Australia Institute has found that insured losses from climate-related disasters have risen more than twelve times in twenty years, while local government revenue has grown only three times over the same period – a gap this fund is designed to close.
Bayside is the ninth in a growing number of councils formally supporting the Communities for Climate Compensation campaign. Tweed Shire Council passed a similar motion last week, building on earlier wins in Byron Shire, Hobart, Parramatta and elsewhere. Councillors from across Australia also unanimously supported the motion at the Australian Local Government Association's National General Assembly in June.
MEDIA CONTACT: Laura Corrigan, Media Advisor, Climate Media Centre – 0423 690 152 – [email protected]
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