There is increasing concern about climate change and its impacts on both the natural and built environment. Climate change considerations, although still not fully integrated, have become an important part of disaster risk management worldwide. Australia has witnessed many extreme weather events in the past and will witness more in the future as the climate changes. While some mitigation strategies to cut greenhouse gas emissions are in place, climate change adaptation has broadly been neglected by all levels of government and treated separately from disaster risk management. Coastal cities such as Queensland’s Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast are located in low-lying flood prone areas, providing highly sensitive case studies. They are also amongst the fastest growing cities in Australia with volatile economies that are heavily reliant on tourism and supporting industries such as retail and construction. This paper reviews the institutional context of the Gold and Sunshine Coasts in addressing urban resilience to climate-related disasters. The focus of the policy review is at local level climate change strategies, planning schemes, and disaster management plans as integral parts of managing the risks of natural hazards. The aim is to understand how the concepts of urban resilience and adaptation are reflected through policies at local level of government.