Australia election: How climate is making Australia more unliveable

"It's devastating. The amount of time and effort you put in your home and
then to see it go under water."

Sam Bowstead is an architect who specialises in preparing houses to

withstand natural disasters. But when floods engulfed his Brisbane home
in February, he felt helpless.

"I've worked with people who've been in similar situations - now this
happened to me," he says.

"I was shocked at how fast [the water] rose... more than a metre in a
couple of hours. I went from being worried about our property to being
worried about our safety."

In the end, a boat was the only way out.

Mr Bowstead's experience has become increasingly common for

Australians.

In the past three years, record-breaking bushfire and flood events have
killed more than 500 people and billions of animals. Drought, cyclones and
freak tides have gripped communities.

Climate change is a key concern for voters in Australia's election on

Saturday. So is the cost of living - and these issues are converging like
never before.

Australia is facing an "insurability crisis" with one in 25 homes on track to

be effectively uninsurable by 2030, according to a Climate Council report.
Another one in 11 are at risk of being underinsured.

Insurance for the highest-risk homes will be prohibitively expensive or

refused by providers, says the Climate Council, which created an
interactive map for Australians to search.

"Climate change is playing out in real time here and many Australians now
find it impossible to insure their homes and businesses," says chief
executive Amanda McKenzie.
The state most exposed

Nowhere is this a bigger issue than in Queensland. It is home to almost

40% of the 500,000 homes projected to be effectively uninsurable.

Queensland has been ravaged by floods in recent months. In February, the

state capital Brisbane had more than 70% of its average yearly rainfall in
just three days.

"I still feel quite traumatised when it rains heavily," says Michelle Vine,
whose East Brisbane home was destroyed along with decades of her
artwork.

"We had to move out of the home - it became unliveable."

Insurers say the floods - which also battered New South Wales - will
become Australia's most expensive flood event ever. But even before this
year, insurance costs were skyrocketing.

Though rising property prices are one factor, Australia's peak insurance
industry body points the finger at climate change.

The Insurance Council of Australia says no parts of the country are

currently uninsurable but there are "clearly affordability and availability
concerns".

Over the past decade, the amount paid out by insurers on damage claims
from natural disasters has roughly doubled.

On average, consumers now pay almost four times for home insurance
premiums than in 2004.

In northern Australia, these numbers are even more extreme - in some

cases 10 times higher than elsewhere.

More Australians are being forced to underinsure - purchase cheaper

policies that cover too little - or forgo insurance altogether.
"This is probably Australia's most important cost-of-living issue," Dr
Antonia Settle, a political economist at the University of Melbourne, tells
the BBC.

"Households that don't have insurance risk losing their most important
asset."

'Catch-22 for young people'

The phenomenon could also exacerbate social inequality and create
"climate ghettos", says Climate Valuation, a risk analysis company.

Properties in higher-risk areas are becoming cheaper to buy and rent,

often attracting people who are least able to afford adequate insurance,
compounding the financial impact of disasters.

"People are not moving away from climate-endangered places in

Australia. And in fact, along the fringes of the major cities, they are more
likely to move toward them," says demographer Liz Allen from the
Australian National University.

"The housing affordability issue in Australia is so dire… that people see

climate catastrophe as almost a bargain, a way to ensure that they can
have a place to call their own."

Ms Vine is one example of this - saying she was drawn to a vulnerable area
by price. At the time, she felt like she'd "won the lottery". Mr Bowstead
made a similar choice, describing it as "a Catch-22... for young people".

And once in a risky area, it's near impossible for many to get out - as is the
case for Gary Godley in the town of Grantham, west of Brisbane.

Given Grantham's horrific flood history - 12 people died there in 2011 -

there are no takers for his home.

"We want out. We just can't afford it," Mr Godley says. "We can't do
anything."