Golden Plains among 500+ councils urging $1.3 billion fossil fuel levy to fund disaster repairs

Golden Plains Shire Council is among more than 500 local governments backing a push for a new $1.3 billion national fund to deal with the escalating cost of climate-related damage.

Locally, that pressure is being felt through more frequent and intense rainfall, flash flooding and strain on drainage systems.

What’s going on: A motion on the proposal was passed at last week’s Australian Local Government Association (ALGA) national conference in Canberra. It calls for the creation of a “Climate Compensation Fund” sourced from levies on coal, oil and gas companies.

• For councils like Golden Plains in western Victoria, local governments are on the frontline of repairing and rebuilding roads, community infrastructure and public assets after extreme weather events.

• While the scale and type of impacts vary between municipalities, councils argue they are consistently absorbing long-term costs linked to bushfire, flooding and storm damage, without a rise in revenue to meet those pressures.

• In its 2026-27 budget, Golden Plains Shire allocated $1.57 million – alongside a $2.54 million federal grant – to resealing and improving local roads, as well as $600,000 for a drainage program. 

What they want: At the centre of the motion is a call for federal action to establish a dedicated funding stream worth $1.3 billion annually. 

• Under the proposal, $400 million a year would be directed to climate adaptation projects, with a further $900 million allocated to disaster response and recovery support for local governments.

How they want it: ALGA, which represents 537 councils nationwide, said the funding should be raised through targeted levies on fossil fuel producers because they are responsible for the majority of Australia’s climate pollution.

It argued communities and ratepayers are currently carrying a disproportionate share of the financial burden spent on recovering from this pollution.

Golden Plains’ case: A spokesperson for Golden Plains Shire Council said its support for the proposal stemmed from “on-going and increasing impact that climate-driven weather events are having on rural local governments”.

🗣️ “As a result of climate impacts we are increasingly seeing more concentrated rainfall events. This can lead to flash flooding,” a council spokesperson told the Brolga.

🗣️ “Councils need to provide and maintain many services and assets and the cumulative impacts of a changing climate are placing significant pressure on this.”

Look further: Golden Plains Council wants governments to place a greater emphasis on funding long-term adaptation projects that mitigate events and the impact created, rather than focusing primarily on repairing infrastructure following disasters.

🗣️ “This will save money in the long term by reducing the need for expensive rectification works,” it said. “A proactive fund that Councils could access would allow for planning and funding of improved drainage networks that cater for these events and not the rainfall patterns that were planned for historically.”

Growing costs: Natural disasters cost Australia an estimated $38 billion annually - about $3,800 per household - and are projected to rise to $73 billion by 2060, according to Deloitte Access Economics.

• ALGA said local governments bear a disproportionate share of those costs because councils maintain a third of the nation’s infrastructure, including 75 percent of roads, forcing more spending on repairs and recovery.

• Research from the Australia Institute found the cost of insurance from climate-related disasters is now 12 times higher than 20 years ago, while local government revenue has only tripled.