The Queensland Labor government will bankroll projects by coastal councils to mitigate the effects of rising sea levels, less than two years after its Liberal National predecessor banned mentions of climate change impacts from planning policy.
The Palaszczuk government has set up a modest $12m fund, launching it in Redcliffe, north of Brisbane, which it said was “one of the communities on the frontline in the battle against the worst predicted effects” of rising sea levels.
Redcliffe is located within the Moreton Bay regional council, which former deputy premier Jeff Seeney ordered to remove all references to climate-driven sea level rises from its regional plan in November 2014.
Seeney’s legally binding direction that the council “remove any assumption about a theoretical projected sea level rise from all and any provision of the scheme” prompted concerns from the Local Government Association of Queensland (LGAQ) about insurance and future liabilities.
Steven Miles, the Queensland environment minister, said Seeney’s move caused “a legal and insurance nightmare” and the state’s new funding for mitigation returned “certainty for local governments”.
“The science is clear that by 2100 we can expect a projected sea level rise of 0.8 metres, cyclone intensity may increase and possibly track further south more often,” Miles said.
“That means accelerated coastal erosion, permanent inundation of low-lying areas and an increase in the areas impacted by storm surge and king tides.”
Moreton Bay regional council mayor, Allan Sutherland, said the funding was welcome for a council that “with more than 150km of coastline … is committed to minimising, where possible, the community’s exposure to coastal hazards”.
Sutherland last year signed a statutory declaration stating that Seeney, who claimed his move was to protect residents’ property development rights, told him in a meeting that climate change was a “semi-religious belief”.
Margaret de Wit, the president of the LGAQ, said the organisation was looking for “a value for money approach which gets affected councils working together to minimise the risks associated with coastal hazards”.
