This summer, as communities across the country experienced wild swings between weather extremes, the Climate Council conducted polling to learn how extreme weather events were impacting the wellbeing of Australians. The survey was a follow-up to a landmark study into climate change and mental health undertaken by the Climate Council in 2023.
Experiences of climate-fuelled disasters and their impact on mental health:
- The overwhelming majority (84%) of Australians report having been directly affected by at least one climate-fuelled disasters since 2019 – spanning heatwaves (71%), floods (45%), bushfires (43%), droughts (37%), destructive storms (35%) and landslides (8%).
- Sadly, many Australians have experienced these disasters more than once within the last five years. More than half (53%) experienced multiple heatwaves, one in four (23%) reported more than one flooding event and one in five (19%) had been through more than one bushfire.
- These disasters aren’t experienced equally, with Queenslanders in particular more likely to report experiencing one or more floods (70%), heatwaves (86%) and or cyclones and/or destructive storms (57%) compared to other states and territories. Residents of both QLD (53%) and NSW (46%) were also more likely to have reported living through one or more droughts compared to their counterparts in other states and territories.
- People living in regional (60%) and rural locations (60%) were also more likely to have experienced one or more flood events, compared to their counterparts in inner (42%) and outer metropolitan (31%) areas. There was a similar pattern for droughts, with rural (44%) and regional (43%) residents more likely to have lived through one or more of these events than their counterparts in inner (33%) and outer (34%) metropolitan areas. Other significant findings include:
- Over half (55%) of people living in rural areas had lived through one or more bushfires, compared to 43% of inner and 35% of outer metropolitan residents.
- 43% of regional residents had experienced one or more cyclones and/or destructive storms, more than their counterparts in inner (34%) and outer (29%) metropolitan areas.
- These experiences are having a significant impact on the mental health of Australians. Half (50%) of all Australians who have lived through recent climate-fuelled disasters reported at least some degree of negative impact on their mental health. 1 in 5 (19%) reported a moderate or major impact on their mental health.
What Australians are most worried about:
- Three quarters (78%) of Australians are worried about climate change and extreme weather events in Australia, with about half (49%) being very or fairly worried.
- Climate-fuelled disasters are driving people to worry about whether they will be able to continue living where they currently reside. More than 1 in 3 (36%) worry that they may have to permanently relocate due to extreme weather.
- These concerns over relocation are well-founded, with 2 in 5 (42%) people reporting either having temporarily or permanently relocated due to extreme weather or knowing someone who has.
- Queenslanders identified the most strongly with this experience, with more than 1 in 2 (52%) people saying they had either relocated due to extreme weather or know someone who has.
- NSW residents followed closely behind Queenslanders, with just under 1 in 2 (49%) people saying they had either relocated due to extreme weather or know someone who has.
- Almost two-thirds (62%) of people who have had to relocate reported that it had a negative impact on their mental health.
- An overwhelming majority (84%) of Australians reported being worried that their home insurance may become unaffordable due to worsening disasters.
- A majority of Australians (75%) are worried about their communities facing further disasters in the next 12 months. With so many having experienced multiple disasters, this is not surprising.
- On a positive note, 76% of Australians have some degree of confidence in their communities’ preparedness for future climate-related disasters. This could be because of the work many communities across Australia have had to do to recover from disasters in the recent past.
- Four in five Australians (79%) say they are worried about the impact of extreme weather events on children and young people.
The survey data comes from a National YouGov Poll with a representative national sample of 1,568 Australians, conducted from 24-30 January 2024. The sample covered Australians aged over 18 including representatives of different genders, generations, geographies (states, city/rural, etc.), education levels, income levels, voting habits, and other characteristics.
