Climate justice
Future generations deserve bold leadership from current governments to ensure they can live, safely and healthily, on this planet. Everyone deserves protection from the devastation of climate disasters.
Barriers to justice
Climate change is already driving more frequent and worsening climate disasters like fires, droughts, heatwaves, cyclones and floods. As governments continue to expand the fossil fuel industry and sideline climate mitigation measures, its impacts are set to worsen.
Climate change disproportionately impacts people experiencing poverty and other forms of disadvantage. This includes Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, for whom climate change can impact cultural and spiritual connections to land and waterways, as well as physical wellbeing.
Disasters create and worsen legal problems related to people’s housing and tenancies, social security, debts, insurance, experience of domestic, family and sexual violence, and child protection. These problems can impact people’s lives, and entire communities, over many years.
Most government approaches to limiting climate impacts (mitigation) and keeping people in safe homes as the climate changes (adaptation) are market-based. That is, they rely on people and households spending money on things – like solar panels, energy-efficient air-conditioning systems, insurance cover, or relocation. These approaches leave out renters whose landlords don’t want to pay for upgrades, and low-income homeowners who can’t afford to pay, even for solutions that are subsidised.
Rose and Andy are a retired couple in their 80s who have lived in the same 1950s house in Townsville for most of their lives. When Tropical Cyclone Yasi hit in 2011, their home suffered significant structural damage. Their insurer refused their claim because of an alleged lack of roof maintenance. They weren’t eligible for resilience grants even though they had limited financial means, so they ended up having to spend personal savings to hire an unlicensed contractor to make basic repairs.
Their home was damaged again in the 2019 Townsville Floods, both by floodwaters and roof leaks. Contents, their vehicle and living areas were severely damaged, and mould rendered the home uninhabitable. By this point, they’d become uninsured because their premiums had become unaffordable. They were again unable to access a resilience grant, because of narrow eligibility requirements – they only needed a partial roof replacement. Rose and Andy’s adult children paid for home repairs, despite themselves being in financial hardship.
Now, Rose and Andy’s home remains structurally compromised, and there is a risk of future damage. Rose and Andy live with a deep sense of insecurity, both physically and financially, and the lack of timely, accessible resilience support has deepened intergenerational financial stress.
‘People affected by natural disasters’ are a priority group for legal assistance under the National Access to Justice Partnership. However, governments haven’t delivered additional long-term funding to community legal centres to upskill workers, recruit specialists, set up permanent disaster legal assistance practices, or provide community legal education. Failing to invest in prevention of legal problems means that when future disasters happen, more people will have legal problems and those problems will be more serious. It will be slower and more difficult for communities to recover.
National Disaster Recovery Funding arrangements do not support fast, flexible and efficient delivery of disaster legal assistance services to communities following a disaster. Too often, it takes governments months or even years to get disaster recovery funding to legal assistance services in impacted communities.
Our vision for justice — climate justice
Governments act on the root causes of climate change and show leadership to keep future generations safe. Governments do not subsidise the fossil fuel industry or approve any new coal or gas projects. As we transition away from fossil fuels, governments plan for and ensure fair outcomes for workers and communities that rely on mining and fracking for employment.
Governments consider climate mitigation and adaptation in all planning and decision-making. Approaches to climate adaptation are equitable, inclusive, and ensure people on the lowest incomes or facing other systemic barriers are not left behind. Governments take mitigation and adaptation approaches that most benefit the people who experience disadvantage and marginalisation. This includes things like investing in public transport, retrofitting social housing, and mandating minimum energy efficiency standards for rental homes.
Governments respect Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people’s expertise in land and resources management. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples make decisions about how to build climate resilience on Country, and manage fire, flood, and drought risks, and governments fund these solutions.
Governments invest in local, community-led approaches to prepare for disasters. This includes physical adaptations, community education initiatives, and building up support services and other social infrastructure. Local services like community legal centres have ongoing funding that enables them to build and maintain the expertise and relationships they need to best support their communities through disasters and contribute to prevention.
People impacted by climate and other disasters can access the support services they need, immediately and over the long term, to mitigate the legal, social, health and economic impacts.
