Fire-ravaged shire wants fossil fuel companies to pay for climate disaster

A Victorian shire recovering from bushfires that destroyed more than 50 homes and businesses is calling for the federal government to force fossil fuel companies to help finance the country’s climate disaster.

The Mount Alexander Shire Council, an hour and a half northwest of Melbourne, is recovering from a fire that destroyed more than 50 homes and businesses in January.

The council this month unanimously passed a motion to call on the federal government to introduce a climate pollution tax on coal, gas and oil corporations.

Greens councilor Lucas Maddock said the money could be used to respond to and recover from the “climate damage” he said the companies were causing.

“Without concrete steps to ensure they do, it will be local communities and councils like ours who continue to pay for climate damage in our own pockets.”

The successful motion also calls on the council to seek the support of the state government at next month’s local government meeting.

Cr Maddock told ABC Victorian Statewide Mornings that taxpayers’ money is being used to respond to disasters that are being made worse by climate change.

“These are funds that could go to our schools, our roads, our health services,” he said.

Cr Maddock said while some costs were covered by insurance, ratepayers were paying for indirect costs such as rising insurance rates and retrofitting homes to weatherproof them.

He cited a recent study by The Castlemaine Institute which said the average household in the shire would need about $23,000 in financial recovery to be considered weather and disaster resilient.

“So we’re making some really tough decisions right now about what we can and can’t do, and what are the most important things to do.”

‘We must all carry our burden’

The town of Harcourt, which is within the Mount Alexander Shire Council, bore the brunt of the Ravenswood fire earlier this year.

Castlemaine resident and climate activist Malcolm Robbins told this month’s council meeting that fossil fuel companies are not contributing their “fair share” to climate change.

“Every local community is paying the price for accelerating anthropogenic climate change, while the big coal, oil and gas companies bear the true cost of their operations – shifting the burden of climate damage to communities, local businesses and families,” he said.

Local cider maker Michael Henry lost almost everything in the fire, including his house and orchard.

He said that while the disaster recovery fund is a “good idea”, the federal government should also help foot some of the bill.

“[Corporations] they certainly have some kind of responsibility for it,” he said.

“”But now, at the end of the day, we all bear that responsibility.

Mr Henry said local and national governments also had a role to play.

“If you look at the roads with grass up to your neck, dry, begging for fire,” he said.

“And that comes from the mismanagement of local government and state government. That’s what causes these kinds of fires, these kinds of disasters.”

In a statement, federal Minister for Climate Change and Energy Josh Wilson said the government is supporting local government with its 100 million Community Energy Upgrades.

Mount Alexander Shire Council received $247,925 in round two of the program to electrify its town hall.