Australia has been experiencing one of the busiest cyclone seasons in recent history, with devastating impact. As climate change worsens, extreme weather will become more common and severe. The social, physical and ecological impacts of climate change, however, do not impact populations evenly, nor do all people have the same choices and chances to prepare, respond, recover or evacuate from disaster.
Migrant and refugee populations are at higher risk of the impacts of emergencies than the mainstream population. While there is scant research on the experiences of migrant and refugee women and gender diverse people in disaster settings, we know that disasters in Australia can lead to regressive social change and further entrench gender roles.
Gendered expectations mean that men are often provided the opportunity to take on high level leadership in recovery and reconstruction, while women are expected to give up paid employment to look after children, rebuild their homes and communities, and absorb the stress of property loss, sometimes within the context of intensified family violence. At the same time, the infrastructure women rely on, including sexual and reproductive healthcare, childcare, and family violence support, are often not prioritised by male leaders in disaster planning or recovery. Migrant and refugee women living in regional Australia in particular, already face significant barriers in accessing family violence and sexual and reproductive health supports, which become even more critical in times of disaster.
Looking beyond Australia, climate change poses an existential threat to many of our Pacific neighbours. Despite domestic concern about whether Australia is ready for a rising number of inbound climate refugees, migration policy in Australia has so-far worked to funnel already vulnerable and disadvantaged migrants and refugees into regions and industries hardest hit by climate change. For example, seasonal workers under the Pacific Australia Labour Mobility (PALM) Scheme are relocated across Australia’s agricultural regions. Just this year, thousands of PALM Scheme workers were impacted by Ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred, a sad irony considering Australia continues to ignore calls from Pacific Island leaders to take action to stop fossil fuel subsidies, financing, expansion and export.
Some Federal and State migration schemes also tie migrants to specific regional employers or locations as a condition of their visa. As a result of these schemes, many workers are prevented from leaving disaster zones for fear of jeopardising their visa status and are vulnerable to employers who may be unable or unwilling to protect them. Refugees are also often settled in selected regional towns to fill labour shortages, with little protection from climate risks. After the 2011 Queensland floods, 70 refugee families were displaced from their homes, many experiencing re-traumatisation, helplessness and fear, with the Multicultural Development Association anticipating at the time that more and more refugee families would become homeless as a result, especially given refugees already experience significant discrimination in the private rental market.
On top of being relocated to high-risk locations, refugees and migrants often face disadvantages in accessing disaster support and information. Temporary migrants often have no access to Medicare or Centrelink’s Disaster Recovery Allowance, while disaster preparedness and evacuation information and advice is often only available in English and rarely accounts for the unique visa conditions that limit the mobility options of migrants and refugees.
While migrants play an important role in strengthening regional communities, pinning them to high-risk areas where they have even less access to support than the rest of the community is a significant injustice. Climate and migration are inextricably linked and achieving climate mobility justice in Australia demands an intersectional approach. We must recognise how race, gender, migration status, and geography intersect to shape vulnerabilities and ensure our disaster preparedness, response and recovery efforts are equitable and gender responsive.
This article was first published in edition #144 of The WRAP on April 2025.