Local councils are urging the federal government to fund disaster mitigation and climate change resilience in next week's budget, with fears the devastation from the NSW and Queensland floods will only be repeated.
The Australian Local Government Association president Linda Scott says at least $200 million needs to be spent per year on disaster mitigation, as recommended by the Productivity Commission in 2014.
Councils are also pushing for an additional $200 million over four years to address the impacts of climate change at a local level to reduce the frequency and severity of future disasters.
"We can't keep doing the same thing and hoping for different results," Ms Scott said in a statement.
"We need to spend more up front on mitigation and community resilience or we will see this scenario played out time and time again.
"We owe it to our communities - particularly those that are vulnerable to fires and floods - to invest in infrastructure that will protect them in the years to come."
Recent modelling from climate risk analysis company Climate Valuation said one million properties are exposed to flooding in high-risk areas, including in the Queensland cities of Brisbane and Logan, Shepparton and Wangaratta in Victoria, and Ballina in NSW.
In Queensland, Bundaberg Mayor Jack Dempsey said the community remains traumatised by major flooding in 2010-11 and again in 2013.
The state government has included $42.5 million in its budget to build the East Bundaberg levee, but Mr Dempsey said "bloody-minded politics" is stopping the federal government funding another $42 million of the $85 million project.
The levee would protect large shopping centres and businesses in the city centre, many of which were closed for months after the 2013 floods, as well as at least 600 homes, he said.
"People start shivering and shaking every time there's rain on the roof," Mr Dempsey told AAP.
"I get emotional about it. You just can't understand why the funding is not there."
