Newcastle has joined a growing alliance of 10 councils pushing the federal government to make fossil fuel companies help pay for climate damage instead of leaving ratepayers to foot the bill.
The call comes as Newcastle continues to grapple with the aftermath of Australia's largest residential landslip at New Lambton, where remediation is expected to cost more than $130 million.
Independent lord mayor Gavin Morris will write to the federal Minister for Climate Change and Energy Chris Bowen and Newcastle MP Sharon Claydon calling for a climate compensation fund to be established.
The fund would support communities and local councils to meet the costs of climate adaptation, resilience and disaster recovery.
At City of Newcastle's meeting this week, Greens deputy lord mayor Charlotte McCabe said the council has been left to deal with disaster recovery costs as recently as after the devastating New Lambton landslip.
"Local government is not supported to build back better," she said.
"Every time a bridge is washed away by floods, local governments are only given the funds to replace that exact same bridge, not the funds to replace that bridge with something that will withstand the next flood, which is ridiculous and obviously wastes extraordinary amounts of money."
Cr McCabe said about one-third of Newcastle residents lived in areas vulnerable to flooding. She argued companies responsible for climate damage should bear more of the financial burden.
"They are raking in the profits while we are directly experiencing the externalised costs from their business model, and that is why it totally makes sense that we should adopt a polluter-pays principle," Cr McCabe said.
Councillors from across the country supported the national climate compensation fund at the Australian Local Government Association's national general assembly in June.
Newcastle council wants a climate pollution levy introduced on coal, gas and oil export corporations to raise the funds for the climate compensation fund.
Greens councillor Siobhan Isherwood said the companies contributing to the problem should contribute to the solution.
"Councils are buckling under the pressure of climate-driven natural disasters, and an urgent response is needed," Cr Isherwood said.
The motion also called for a parliamentary inquiry into the adequacy of the 2025 National Adaptation Plan, specifically addressing the lack of extra funding for local governments to deliver mandated adaptation responses.
Research by the Australia Institute found insured losses from climate-related disasters have increased more than 12-fold over the past two decades while local government revenues have roughly tripled.
Merewether resident and ecologist Anna Garnock said she can see the impacts of climate change in Newcastle, with heavy storms eroding the city's coastline.
"Our community should not bear the brunt of these costs," she said.
Just this month, Bayside and Tweed Shire councils both passed similar motions, building on a push from Byron Shire, Hobart and Parramatta.
