The National Sea Change Taskforce, a parliamentary committee, spent 18 months examining the effect that changing climate could have on coastal Australia and concluded that urgent action was needed to safeguard the coast from seas that are expected to rise more than 31 inches this century. Among the panel's recommendations were forced evacuations from coastal areas and a ban on new homes in regions considered to be at risk from flooding and rising seas. That encompasses a massive area. Australia's major cities are all in coastal zones, as are the homes of some six million people living in rural and regional centres. In total, 80 per cent of Australians live in coastal areas and 711,000 homes – worth $150 billion (£70bn) in total – lie within two miles of the sea.