Affordable Insurance in a Changing Climate: A Fair Go in Hard Times

The Bill Comes First, the Fire Later: How Climate Policy Got Turned Into a Shakedown

In Australia, we like to talk about “a fair go.” But try telling that to the family in Dickson whose insurance just tripled, or to the pensioner deciding whether to cover their home or keep the heater on. Because while climate-fuelled disasters rip through Queensland year after year, one thing comes without fail - your bill. Before the storm, before the fire, the invoice has already arrived.

Bushfires, floods, mega-storms - they’re no longer rare events. They’re routine. And for most Australians, especially in working-class suburbs, the question isn’t if the next disaster will hit—it’s whether they can afford to be insured when it does.

Spoiler: many can’t. But that’s not an accident. That’s policy.

Why Are Insurance Premiums Exploding? Simple. Fossil Fuels Still Run the Show

Let’s not pretend this is complicated. The reason insurance premiums are skyrocketing is because disasters are. And disasters are skyrocketing because fossil fuel corporations are being allowed - encouraged, even - to keep torching the planet like it’s shareholder bonfire night.

Labor knows this. The Liberals know this. But instead of stopping it, they’ve pulled out the red carpet. Over 25 new coal and gas projects green-lit. $11 billion a year in subsidies handed straight to the same corporations setting the planet on fire.

And then, in a dazzling feat of political theatre, they look shocked when the cost of recovery lands on the public instead of the polluters.

Peter Dutton’s contribution? Deny the problem, blame the Greens, and dangle the keys to a nuclear utopia that won’t show up until the year 2045, if at all. It’s not policy - it’s climate cosplay.

This Isn’t Incompetence. It’s Protection Racket Politics

The government isn’t failing to respond to the insurance crisis. It’s facilitating it. It protects fossil fuel profits, hands them billions, and leaves everyday people to foot the bill - twice. Once through taxes and subsidies. Then again through skyrocketing premiums and out-of-pocket disaster costs.

That’s not a policy gap. That’s a business model.

The Greens: Making the Polluters Pay, Not You

The Greens are the only party refusing to play along with this racket. They’re not pretending the market’s going to save you from the next firestorm. They’re not waiting for a magical future reactor. They’re offering something shockingly rare: a plan rooted in cause and effect.

Here’s what it looks like:

• Expand the government’s reinsurance pool to cover all climate disasters - not just cyclones. Yes, floods, fires, storms. All of it.
• Make fossil fuel corporations pay into that pool. They broke it. They can help fund the mop-up.
• Give the ACCC real teeth to monitor insurance prices and demand clear explanations for premium hikes. If you’re getting gouged, you’ll know - and they’ll answer for it.
• Create a national disaster risk map that the public can actually see. Because you deserve more than vague warnings and a shrugged shoulder.
• Cut regressive stamp duties that inflate insurance costs for no good reason.
• Build a national Climate Response Service - because if disaster’s coming, you need more than empty slogans. You need sandbags, warning systems, and someone on the ground who gives a damn.

This isn’t just fair. It’s functional. For once.

Because Right Now, Security Is for the Rich. Everyone Else? Best of Luck

Try buying a home in a high-risk area and getting affordable insurance. You won’t. And that’s by design. As the climate gets worse, security becomes a luxury good - only available to those who can pay. That’s not just immoral. It’s medieval.

It’s the opposite of resilience. It’s abandonment with a policy number.

Working people didn’t cause this crisis. Pensioners didn’t profit off gas exports. Renters didn’t pour billions into coal expansion. But they’re the ones being hit hardest - again.

The Greens have a simple principle: recovery shouldn’t depend on your bank balance.

This Election: Call Time on the Fossil-Backed Insurance Cartel

Labor will keep dancing around the fire they helped light. The Liberals will keep pretending there’s nothing burning. The Greens are the only ones pointing at the arsonists and demanding they pay for the damage.

Vote to make insurance affordable, and disaster protection real.

Vote to end handouts for polluters and hold them accountable.

Vote to push Labor to stop protecting profits over people - and keep Dutton in the bunker where he belongs.

Because in a climate crisis, honesty isn’t radical. It’s necessary. And someone’s got to say it.