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Home of the world's largest coal port, City of Newcastle calls on big polluters to pay for climate damage

Climate Media Centre

July 29

The City of Newcastle has passed a motion calling on the Federal Government to establish a National Climate Compensation Fund, so the council can ensure a safer and stronger city in the face of worsening extreme weather caused by the burning of fossil fuels. 

Deputy Lord Mayor Charlotte McCabe, who moved the motion, said: "Newcastle is on the frontline of climate damage, and the bill keeps growing. Australia’s largest residential landslip, triggered by an extreme weather event that dumped 198 millimetres of rain overnight, left 16 properties uninhabitable and will cost more than $130 million to remediate.

"Newcastle's Southern Beaches Coastal Management Plan has had to urgently focus on the beaches between Bar Beach and Merewether because coastal erosion and sea level rise impacts are occurring more rapidly than previously expected. Our Council has had to ask our community to make confronting choices to either manage retreat and lose footpaths, roads and assets, or building sea wall protections which will drown our much loved beaches.

"These are not hypothetical future costs. They are landing on council budgets and ratepayers right now."

Nationally, fires, floods and cyclones cost Australia $38 billion per year, with 434 of Australia’s 537 councils impacted by climate-fuelled 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 revenues have grown only three times over the same period.

The Climate Compensation Fund seeks to address this imbalance giving the City of Newcastle the resources to manage climate damage and help its community thrive. 

"Every time, it is local ratepayers and council budgets that carry the costs of recovery and repair. As the home of the world’s largest coal port, we are calling for the coal and gas corporations whose climate pollution is driving these disasters to pay their fair share – not just so we can manage and recover after each disaster, but so we can build back better. That is not radical. That is fair," said Deputy Lord Mayor McCabe.

The motion calls on the Federal Government to establish a Parliamentary Inquiry into the adequacy of the 2025 National Adaptation Plan, create a dedicated funding stream for local governments that matches the scale of financial risks identified in the 2025 National Climate Risk Assessment, and introduce a Climate Pollution Levy on coal and gas export corporations to fund it. 

Anna Garnock, Merewether resident and ecologist, said: "I can see the impacts of climate change here in Newcastle, along our stunning coastline daily. Frequent and heavy storms and floods have depleted many of our beaches which never really get a chance to recover after each storm. 

"I support Newcastle Council’s efforts to mitigate and adapt as the climate damage from these weather events compound. But I believe it’s not only reasonable and fair, but also necessary, that the big polluters who export coal through our harbour - the world’s largest coal port - shoulder the responsibility and pay their fair share. Our community should not bear the brunt of these costs.

"I’m genuinely proud that our council has passed this motion. I am now looking to the federal government to show courage to implement a Climate Compensation Fund- a more just approach to managing the climate crisis for communities across Australia."

Tuesday night's successful vote makes City of Newcastle the tenth in a growing number of councils across Australia calling on the Federal Government to make big polluters contribute to fixing the harm their pollution causes, rather than leaving councils, ratepayers and households to foot the bill. Bayside and Tweed Shire Council both passed similar motions this month, 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, Climate Media Centre – 0423 690 152 – [email protected]

BACKGROUND

  • City of Newcastle passed 10.3 CLIMATE COMPENSATION TO PROTECT RATEPAYERS at its Ordinary Meeting on July 28. The motion passed 11 votes to 2. 
  • Councillors from across Australia also unanimously supported the National Climate Compensation Fund at the Australian Local Government Association's National General Assembly on June 24 2026. 
  • The 2025 New Lambton landslip is the largest residential landslip in Australian history, confirmed by an independent geotechnical report peer-reviewed by Transport for NSW and NSW Public Works. It was triggered by a natural disaster following two days of intense rainfall, with 198mm falling on the night of the landslip. Restoration costs are estimated at more than $130 million (City of Newcastle, February 2026). The landslip left 16 properties uninhabitable.
  • Federal and state governments provide approximately $14.9 billion annually in fossil fuel subsidies, more than 14 times the nation’s $4.75 billion disaster response fund (Australia Institute, 2025).
  • Santos reported ten consecutive years of zero corporate tax payments to 2024-25, despite $47 billion in sales.
  • Coal, oil and gas corporations are responsible for three quarters of Australia’s climate pollution.

MEDIA CONTACT: Laura Corrigan, Media Advisor, Climate Media Centre – 0423 690 152 – [email protected]

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