Away from flooded areas, you might think the effects are soon gone - the waters recede and normal life continues.
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A report from the University of New South Wales concludes that regional housing markets will be unable to survive widespread property losses caused by future floods, due to low social housing stock and inadequate services to support the homeless.
The conclusions have led leading charities to call on governments to do more to protect regional Australians from homelessness.
The report was commissioned by Mission Australia, the St Vincent de Paul Society, Social Futures, the Salvation Army, the Australian Red Cross and the Tenants' Union of NSW. Global warming will make the problem worse, they argue.
One man is determined to head off the danger.
Ian Porter has 30 years' experience in climate change, renewable energy and energy efficiency. He has been chosen to head a new national net zero unit established in the federal Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communication and the Arts. The team will work with industry to improve transport networks and supply chains increasingly battered by extreme weather events.
A major superannuation fund has backed the build-to-rent housing sector with $240 million, benefiting some of the country's lowest-paid workers, ahead of a meeting to discuss the housing crisis.
HESTA chief executive Debby Blakey said the fund's founding investment in the Super Housing Partnerships scheme was intended to generate stable, long-term returns for members while bolstering an emerging investment sector.
And foreign influence and interference through social media is to go under parliamentary scrutiny.
Senators have agreed to re-establish a committee to review how social media platforms based in authoritarian countries like China and Russia pose a risk to national security.
Platforms include TikTok and WeChat.
The committee will also look at how social media giants like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube are being used in what members suspect is a nefarious way by countries like China and Russia to spread disinformation.
THE NEWS YOU NEED TO KNOW:
- Housing needed for NSW flood-impacted
- Net zero expert to drive down emissions
- Government response on Juukan Gorge
- Fisheries report finds fish stocks stable
- Telstra breached code on credit rules
- Super fund's $240m build-to-rent pledge
- Territories rights laws to pass next week
- Foreign social media meddling in spotlight
Steve Evans
Steve Evans is a reporter on The Canberra Times. He's been a BBC correspondent in New York, London, Berlin and Seoul and the sole reporter/photographer/paper deliverer on The Glen Innes Examiner in country New South Wales. "All the jobs have been fascinating - and so it continues."
Steve Evans is a reporter on The Canberra Times. He's been a BBC correspondent in New York, London, Berlin and Seoul and the sole reporter/photographer/paper deliverer on The Glen Innes Examiner in country New South Wales. "All the jobs have been fascinating - and so it continues."
