Thursday 16 June 2022 11:49 PM Climate change: The 10 areas in Australia likely to be uninsurable by 2030 due ... trends now
Up to 90 per cent of homes in some parts of Australia are set to become uninsurable because of catastrophic flooding, an environmental group fears.
The Climate Council has named the 10 areas across the nation most at risk of natural disasters including floods and bushfires, with five of them in Queensland.
A section of northern Victoria that is part of the Murray-Darling Basin was deemed the most vulnerable part of the country for flooding.
The Climate Council predicted 26.5 per cent, or more than one in four homes in the electorate of Nicholls - which covers the major regional centres of Shepparton and Echuca - would be uninsurable by 2030.
Most worryingly, a huge 90 per cent of homes in Shepparton, which sits on the Goulburn River, were expected to be impossible to insure within eight years because of the flood risk.
Shepparton hasn't had recurring floods such as those in Lismore and Brisbane, with its last major inundation in 2010.
But Nicki Hutley, an economist with the Climate Council who co-authored the report, said it was Australia's most at-risk place for flooding based on forecasts for heavy rainfall in the area which is flat.
'It's all about where we've built,' she told Daily Mail Australia.
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The Climate Council has named 10 areas of Australia, by federal electorates, most at risk of natural disasters. Shepparton hasn't had recurring floods recently like Lismore and Brisbane, with its last major inundation in 2010 (pictured) but up to 90 per cent of homes could be uninsurable by 2030
'Shepparton has yet to have the types of floods that we have seen elsewhere but this is all about risk.
'This all comes down to the level of increased rainfall that is forecast that will affect those river systems.'
Nicki Hutley, an economist with the Climate Council who co-authored the report, said Shepparton was Australia's most at-risk place for flooding based on forecasts for heavy rainfall in an area that is flat
The Nicholls electorate, previously known as Murray, had 25,801 properties regarded as high risk, putting it well ahead of the northern NSW electorate of Richmond, covering Ballina and Byron Bay, where 22,274 homes are predicted to be in danger.
Should rising global temperatures bring more frequent and devastating floods, potential home buyers would baulk at paying $30,000 a year in flood insurance, which Ms Hutley said would significantly reduce the value of homes.
'Whether they are worth nothing, it becomes a question of what the increase in the insurance premium is going to be,' Ms Hutley said.
'In some areas, the risk is much higher.
'There's a big difference if you're going to pay $3,000 a year in insurance versus $30,000 - if it's $30,000 then somebody who's going to buy that property is either going to expect to buy it for almost nothing - to take account of the fact that they can't insure the property.
'If it's a much lower rate of insurance, it might bring down the price of the property.
'If someone buys a house, if it's going to cost them an extra $5,000 a year for 10 years, does it knock it off by $50,000?'
The Southern Down region southwest of Brisbane was one of the five federal electorates in Queensland most at risk of natural disasters
Ms Hutley said the properties most at risk were those located near large river systems.
'Right across Australia the number is one in 25 but in individual areas it might be as high as nine in 10, 90 per cent of properties at risk of being uninsurable,' she told the ABC.
'Naturally, if you are very close to a large river system, and even the downstream smaller rivulets, creeks, that's where the biggest risks are except of course, now these floods are getting higher and more frequent.'
Southeast Queensland had five spots in the shortlist of the 10 worst-affected federal electorates, with two of them in Brisbane, one on the Gold Coast and two further inland.
Northern NSW had two spots, and Adelaide had one place on the danger list.
The northern Victorian electorate of Indi, which covers Wangaratta, had 10.7 per cent of homes regarded as possibly uninsurable because of flooding.
Recurring flooding in Brisbane this year helped the Greens win the seats of Brisbane and Griffith for the first time ever at the May 21 election, with both those electorates considered most vulnerable to the effects of climate change.
In Brisbane, 12.5 per cent of homes
