Worsening natural disasters will cost NSW taxpayers triple the current annual cost by 2060 unless measures outlined in a new government plan are followed.
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The government on Friday published its first State Disaster Mitigation Plan following forecasts that the annual $3.1 billion cost of natural disasters will reach $9.1 billion unless action is taken.
The NSW Reconstruction Authority, set up after the 2022 Lismore floods, published the plan about how to reduce the impacts of worsening bushfires, heatwaves, floods, storms and coastal erosion.
The plan claims the government will review building codes to ensure building resilience, review insurance levy arrangements, develop early warning systems so people are prepared, and more.
Councils and localised disaster adaption plans will play a key role. The first three plans of this type are for the Northern Rivers, the Hawkesbury Nepean area and the central west.
The State Disaster Mitigation Plan identified 20 council areas most at risk.
These are Ballina, Blacktown, Bayside, Canterbury-Bankstown, Central Coast, Clarence Valley, the Hawkesbury, Sydney's inner west, Lake Macquarie, Lismore, Liverpool, Newcastle, Northern Beaches, Parramatta, Penrith, Shoalhaven, Sutherland, Sydney, Tweed and Wollongong.
People in NSW have experienced more than 65 declared disasters since 2019. This has damaged more than 20,000 homes and cost taxpayers more than $6 billion.
Planning Minister Paul Scully said historically NSW's ability to prevent and prepare for disaster had not worked.
"There has been only three per cent of funding spent on prevention and 97 per cent spent after an event," he said.
"We know that every dollar we invest in better preparing communities reduces future costs and will help make communities more resilient."
In Lismore, some people are living in partially repaired homes while others left the region after thousands of homes were damaged or destroyed by the 2022 floods.
An auditor-general report on the flood response found the state was not as well prepared as it could have been and lacked temporary housing after the disaster.
Australian Associated Press
