Australian journal of emergency management
Australia is forecast to experience unprecedented population increase, effectively requiring a city the size of Canberra to be built every year for the next 30 years. At the same time, some rural and regional populations are likely to decrease, further intensifying the populations of major cities and exposing more people to disaster impacts. Fire seasons are extending up to nine months within single jurisdictions and, nationally, there is now overlap with the disaster seasons of the northern hemisphere. This severely restricts the ability to draw in international resources. Direct disaster costs are likely to exceed $39 billion per annum by 2050, and will more than double when indirect costs are taken into account. And finally, climate change is now viewed by the Australian Financial Regulators as a material risk that must be considered in all investment decisions. These drivers for action framed the work of the National Resilience Taskforce.