Floods and other natural disasters brought significant financial damage to Australia and affected the lives of nearly 70 percent of the population in 2022.
The Treasury has estimated that last year, the Australian economy lost $5 billion (US$3.49 billion), or 0.25 percent of real GDP, due to reduced activities in the mining, agriculture, accommodation and food services, retail trade and construction sectors.
However, this amount does not capture the full human costs, the damage to housing or transport infrastructure or the costs to the federal budget.
“That gives you a sense of the size and scale of the challenge that we’re up against,” Treasurer Jim Chalmers told ABC Radio during his trip to northern New South Wales (NSW) to inspect rebuilding efforts in disaster-stricken areas….