There is an increasing recognition of the need to identify new mechanisms to finance climate change. Adaptation finance is a sub-set of broader climate finance, and refers to public and private sector financing from national, regional and international sources for climate change adaptation actions. The vast gap between current adaptation finance and estimated costs of adapting to future climate change, globally and in Australia is well recognised. This paper presents findings from a recent research project investigating financing of climate change adaptation in Australia. A review of the literature shows that whilst a range of mechanisms exist to finance projects that mitigate climate change, finance mechanisms that target adaptation are far less common. Thus, the aim of the empirical part of the study was to explore the reasons for limited action in Australia, and prospects for moving the adaptation finance agenda forward. Twenty key stakeholders, representing experts at senior management or executive levels from all levels of government (including state treasuries), insurance and reinsurance companies, banks, superannuation funds, large corporations, and consultants specializing in climate change and sustainability, were asked to describe what adaptation finance means to their organisations and where barriers and potential opportunities to engage in financing may lie. Our results show that while there is willingness to form meaningful partnerships to finance adaptation actions, actual interaction between public and private sector is limited. Some mechanisms, used to finance mitigation initiatives are described as they could potentially be extended to finance climate change adaptation in Australia.