The vulnerability of Australia's coastline to rising sea levels has prompted calls for drastic measures, including stopping developments in danger zones and allowing governments to force people from their homes.
A parliamentary report has warned most of the Australian coast stands to be impacted by climate change through a rise in sea levels, more frequent storms, flooding and coastal erosion.
With 80 per cent of Australians living on the coast, it has sparked calls for an urgent national response from all three levels of government to deal with the impending danger.
And it has also raised concerns about the long-term viability of living on the coast, with some homes already being denied insurance on account of the climate change risk.
The Managing Our Coastal Zone in a Changing Climate report found every state in Australia, and the Northern Territory, will be affected, putting more than 530,000 homes at direct risk.
Queensland stood to be the worst affected, with 250,000 coastal buildings vulnerable in that state alone.
Environmental groups are calling it a major wake-up call for governments and have urged the states to introduce bans on developments in danger areas or "no-go zones".
"State government and some local councils have been reluctant to rule areas as no-go zones when it comes to development," NSW Nature Conservation Council executive director Cate Faehrmann said.
"Even now we are seeing developments approved that are at risk now of sea level rise.
"We are losing our coastlines ... there is no doubt that we will lose many houses that are now beachfront.
"This is a call to all levels of government to begin taking the threats to our coast from climate change much more seriously."
Among the report's 47 recommendations was to consider the option of "forced retreats", where governments would be given powers to "prohibit the continued occupation of the land".
Such powers could be utilised through an intergovernmental agreement - involving councils, state and federal government - which was another of the report's recommendations.
But it looms as a potentially messy battle over planning laws.
Allowing the commonwealth to intervene in planning - the domain of councils - was a major departure from current laws, the Australian Local Government Association said.
It fears any such agreement could potentially strip them of their powers.
Already a war has broken out on the NSW far north coast, where the state government has intervened to allow residents in the Byron Shire Council to protect their homes from rising sea levels.
The association's vice-president Bill Mitchell said an intergovernmental agreement could be an "over-reaction" to what was happening in Byron Bay.
"Before any governmental agreement is signed, we need to know what the pros and cons are," he said.
"Clearly the carrot will be 'We're prepared to invest money into the plans that you have and implement those plans', (but) what's the conflict of that?
"Do councils give up significant planning powers? I don't know. We need to find that out."
Meanwhile, the federal government used the report to push for more action on climate change and the introduction of its carbon pollution reduction scheme.
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said it was a warning that Australia had more to lose than other countries.
"Australia has more to lose through continued inaction on climate change than do our competitor economies," he said.
"As we have been warned today by this report ... the real cost for Australia of continued inaction on climate change is deep and enduring and damaging to our economy and damaging to the nation's environment."
But the coalition rejected the need for urgent action, with Liberal MP Tony Abbott saying no one had even noticed a 20cm rise in sea levels along the NSW coast.
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