CSIRO says climate change and poor planning could cost Australia over $1 trillion

"Severe storms, for instance, have been hitting Sydney a lot in the last few weeks and have been causing a lot of damage. You don't have to think about climate change to think about how you would reduce your vulnerability to those sorts of storms or flash flooding.

Similarly with bushfires, we've seen bushfires in the past. It seems bizarre to think they might not happen in the future. And they're going to happen worse in the future because of climate change," said UNSW's Andy Pitman in an interview with Jake Sturmer in ABC.net.

According to CSIRO the current trend of increasing disaster costs will continue into the future with a direct impact on the Commonwealth's bottom line. And they say climate change is likely to increase the trend in the longer term, meaning higher costs for government and most likely higher insurance premiums.