‘Farmers on the front line’: Shocking cost of climate, disasters revealed

Farmers are on the front line of a major economic challenge coming to Australia, Treasurer Jim Chalmers will revealed as he heads to Queensland’s regions this week.

The black summer bushfires and October 2022 floods cost the Australian economy a whopping $3 billion, Treasurer Jim Chalmers will reveal on Tuesday.

He will also warn that farmers will be on the frontline of climate change unless more is done to arrest its impact, with new modelling showing the nation is set to lose $1.8 billion a year from reduced crop production within the next few decades.

It is part of climate modelling being produced by the Treasury department, a move Mr Chalmers promised to introduce.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Emma Brasier

He will be speaking at the National Drought Forum in Rockhampton on Tuesday.

Mr Chalmers will say that the modelling showed that natural disasters and climate change were set to have big, economic impacts on the nation.

“As our climate warms into the future – potentially by 1.9C here in Queensland over the coming three decades – we know that our farmers are on the front line,” Mr Chalmers will say.

“The black summer bushfires and October 2022 floods cost the Australian economy around $1.5 billion each.

“And the latest projections also show the significant impact that climate change could have on our regions.

“If further action isn’t taken, Australian crop yields could be four per cent lower by 2063, costing us about $1.8 billion in (gross domestic product) in today’s dollars.”

Mr Chalmers will say that the cost of natural disasters was also hitting the federal coffers.

The data shows that the amount of money the Commonwealth spends on severe events under Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements had increased seven-fold in just five years.

“What was $335 million in Commonwealth spending on disaster recovery in 2017-18, has become around $2.5 billion in 2022-23,” he will say.

“The pressure of a changing climate and more frequent natural disasters is constant, cascading, and cumulative.”

A warming climate will reduce crop yield and cost Australia’s economy $1.8 billion a year by 2063, Treasurer Jim Chalmers will say. Picture: Allan Reinikka

Meanwhile, Mr Chalmers is also expected to be the first Australian treasurer to visit the regional Queensland town of Winton in 95 years.

The last Treasurer to go to the town, known as the birthplace of Qantas and Banjo Patterson’s Waltzing Matilda, was Earle Page in 1928, according to Parliamentary Library research.

Mr Chalmers will arrive in the town later on Tuesday as part of a regional tour promoting the federal government’s employment white paper, which was launched on Monday.

Originally published as ‘Farmers on the front line’: Shocking cost of climate, disasters revealed