State as well as federal Australian governments ought to get their act together to coordinate and work on preventive measures and investments that could help mitigate the impact of post-natural disasters in the country. A white paper released on Thursday forecast the cost of post-Australian natural disasters will rise four times by 2050.

Post-disaster relief in Australia is expected to rise from AU$6.3 billion to AU$23 billion by 2050, spurred by a growing population rate as well as rising number of storms, floods, cyclones and bushfires due to global climate change, according to a new white paper released by the Australian Business Roundtable for Disaster Resilience and Safer Communities.

But if all Australian governments could work together to put in a AU$250 million pre-natural disaster fund, more lives could be saved as well as reduce damage to property and vital national infrastructure.

Citing case studies on the communities of South East Queensland, Hawkesbury-Nepean in New South Wales and the Melbourne, the white paper, in tackling how preventative spending can save money into the future, showed:

  • Building more resilient new homes in high cyclone risk areas of South East Queensland could help lessen cyclone impact by 66 per cent
  • Raising the Warragamba Dam wall in the Hawkesbury-Nepean by as much as 23 metres could reduce flood costs between 2013 and 2050 from AU$4.1 billion to AU$1.1 billion, a savings of $3 billion
  • Bushfire mitigation in Victoria focused on vegetation management and reducing ignition sources could have a positive cost benefit ratio of 3:1

Some of Australia's worst disasters in history were the 2009 Victoria Black Saturday bushfires that killed 173 people and injured more than 800. The 2010/11 Queensland floods also affected 22,000 homes and 7,600 businesses across 94 suburbs.

Each year, the Australian government spends an estimated $560 million on post-disaster relief and recovery compared with only a meager $50 million on pre-disaster resilience, the white paper said.

"Spending of authorities on post-disaster recovery is eleven times higher than for measures to improve the safety of the Australian communities prior to disasters," Ludger Arnoldussen, Munich Re board member responsible for the Asia Pacific region, said in a statement.

Munich Re, a German insurer, is part of the Australian Business Roundtable for Disaster Resilience and Safer Communities, a forum of business, companies and the Australian Red Cross.

But if Australia would invest in preventative measures, these could greatly reduce disaster-response cost by more than 50 per cent. The $250 million fund could deliver $12 billion in savings over time.