Australia is preparing for what Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has warned could be a “very tough summer”, as a super El Nino intensifies and the country faces heightened bushfire and extreme-weather risks.
Speaking in Canberra on Monday, Albanese announced new funding for bushfire risk management and mental-health support for emergency responders, saying Australia was “well and truly” into its high-risk weather season.
The warning came as parts of the country experienced sharply contrasting conditions. Snow fell across alpine areas of New South Wales and Victoria, with Cooma, Jindabyne and Thredbo recording up to about 10 centimetres, while temperatures dropped below zero in Victoria, New South Wales, Tasmania and the Australian Capital Territory.
The cold snap followed an unseasonably cold November weekend, even as northern Queensland, Darwin and Broome endured extreme heatwaves.
Australia prepares for a tough bushfire season
Albanese said the government was increasing support for the Australian Fire Danger Rating System and the National Bushfire Intelligence Capability.
He also pointed to additional funding for the national aerial firefighting fleet, record levels in the national emergency management stockpile and work with telecommunications companies to keep communications operating during emergencies.
“I want to be clear: the advice is this could be a very tough summer indeed,” the prime minister told reporters at the National Emergency Management Agency.
He said Australia increasingly had to manage several extreme weather events at once, citing recent flooding in Queensland and fires in the Northern Territory.
“These events can have a massive impact, obviously, on human life in the worst circumstances, but also on our economy and on our capacity to engage across the country,” Albanese said.
The prime minister said climate change was contributing to clear patterns of extreme weather, while cautioning that no individual event could be attributed solely to climate change.
Disaster management and response was the fastest-growing area of government expenditure in the previous financial year, rising 280 per cent from 2024-25 to 2025-26, Albanese said.
He urged Australians to prepare by assembling an emergency kit, making an evacuation plan, enabling alerts and following the advice of local authorities.
The warning coincided with a survey indicating that 75 per cent of Australians did not have a severe weather or bushfire plan in place.
Allianz said it had recorded $385 million in home and motor claims costs nationally during summer 2025-26, with storms the largest source of home insurance claims at $107 million.
Luke Whenman, Allianz Australia’s chief claims officer, said preparation could help reduce the risk and limit the impact of damage to homes and vehicles when severe weather struck.
