They’re the kind of figures that might make Treasurer Joe Hockey sit up and take notice.

A report by the select group of CEOs that make up the Australian Business Roundtable for Disaster Resilience & Safer Communities claims a plan to protect communities from the impact of natural disasters can save the economy as much as $14.6 billion between now and 2050.

Insurers are certain to be interested. A good chunk of those savings will be theirs, which is why the industry holds two seats on the roundtable, belonging to IAG CEO Mike Wilkins and Munich Re Australasia MD Heinrich Eder.

They are joined by the CEOs of the Australian Red Cross, property group Investa, Optus and Westpac.

The key to their report – Building an Open Platform for Natural Disaster Resilience Decisions – is information and, most importantly, how that information is collected and made available to communities, businesses, governments and individuals.

The report’s premise will be well understood by business leaders: timely, relevant, accurate and accessible data is critical to sound decision-making – in this case, decisions on how to protect against the impact of storms, floods, bushfires and earthquakes.

The roundtable released its first report last year, called Building Our Nation’s Resilience to Natural Disasters.

It predicted the economic cost of natural disasters would rise from $6.3 billion a year to $23 billion by 2050. It argued “carefully targeted disaster mitigation investments” of $250 million a year would save the economy $12.2 billion by 2050.

The latest report says consolidation of current and additional disaster information and delivery of that information in an “open accessible format” could save an additional $2.4 billion over that period.

The report, prepared by Deloitte Access Economics, reveals that of about $283 million allocated by governments to natural disaster research from 2009 to 2021, 60% was earmarked for research on response and recovery rather than reducing risk.

The paper is the kind of businesslike response one would expect from a group of leading CEOs – spend less money mopping up by investing up front in mitigation.

Unfortunately, this is the point where governments stop listening – promises of savings will excite some momentary attention, but they are not so responsive to plans that require spending sizeable amounts of money to achieve long-term savings. Cutting spending for immediate savings is more their modus operandi (and that of some corporations, too).

The report is more than a little optimistic in asking the authorities to invest in disaster mitigation. Governments have become accustomed to fighting fires as they occur – figuratively and literally – rather than planning ahead to prevent them or minimise their damage.

One can imagine politicians’ eyes glazing over at the references to 2050 – that’s somebody else’s election.

As for co-ordinating and collaborating across at least seven federal government departments and agencies, all eight state and territory governments, several local councils, six research institutions, 24 universities and the business community to create a centralised, national database of “natural perils data”, the roundtable has definitely set itself a tall order.

The level of collaboration and harmonisation required for “a more sustainable and comprehensive national approach to making communities safer and more resilient” is not the norm under Australia’s creaking federal structure, in which states see themselves as competing with each other and the Commonwealth.

If the roundtable CEOs expected their report to be received as a blueprint to be implemented in full, they would have been sorely disappointed.

But they’ve been around the block a few times. They will understand what is involved in creating the system they call for.

However, that does not make their paper any less valuable or any less worth reading.

Natural disasters are as much a part of Australia as sunshine, beaches and Uluru. Except rather than being celebrated – apart from occasionally by romantic authors and balladeers – they have generally been something to endure.

So why this report, and others like it?

It’s the expectation that climate change and shifting weather patterns will heighten the incidence of natural disasters in Australia, coupled with the realisation that in straitened economic times the heavy cost of natural disasters – to taxpayers and community wellbeing – is simply not sustainable.

The current Productivity Commission inquiry into natural disaster funding arrangements shows how something once taken for granted as part and parcel of living in Australia is now the subject of sober reflection and robust analysis.

The roundtable report stresses the importance of improving our understanding of natural disasters, of improving how decisions are made about disaster planning. And it outlines the priority governments must give to building a safer Australia.

The value of this report is not to be found in whether it is a realistic blueprint for governments to implement.

Its contribution, and a very important one, is in the discussion and awareness it generates.

And on that score, it’s a job well done.