Opinion: Avoiding disaster

An Australian Senate committee report this weekreignited debate about the country's spending to mitigate
natural catastrophes, as it called for more investment in efforts
at loss prevention.
The federal government has so far resisted suggestions that such
spending should rise to A$200mn ($157mn) per year from current
estimates of A$50mn.
Yet news outlet The Australian estimated that a much
larger A$500mn average sum is spent every year on disaster relief
efforts.
Despite the clear long-term fina