Girt by sea: antipodean lessons in coastal adaptation law

Australia is an island nation, ‘girt by sea’. The coast plays a fundamental role in Australia’s national identity, economy, and cultural and social life, as well as providing critical ecosystem goods and services. Since European colonization, sections of Australia’s eastern seaboard have undergone intensive development, from Melbourne in the south to Cairns, in Far North Queensland. Over 80% of Australia’s population currently lives within fifty kilometers of the coast. Coastal values are already at risk from a range of hazards, but while Australia’s coast experiences periodic damage from tropical cyclones, east-coast lows, or midlatitude depressions, it has yet to experience the large-scale erosion or inundation that has occurred in parts of Europe or the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts of the United States.