Gympie mayor Glen Hartwig and Maryborough mayor George Seymour have backed calls for the Federal government to expand its funding for extreme weather events like the recent catastrophic storm and flood in Queensland and New South Wales (NSW).
The government’s Northern Australia Cyclone Reinsurance Pool, to be administered by the Australian Reinsurance Pool Corporation (ARPC) from July 1, 2022, aims to improve insurance accessibility and affordability for individuals and small businesses in cyclone-prone areas.
The Insurance Council of Australia (ICA) has been calling for the Federal government to double its funding annually, until hitting $2 billion over the next five years. In its recently published policy platform for the coming Federal election, the ICA outlined six measures to make at-risk Australian homes and communities more resilient to floods, cyclones, and bushfires – which is estimated to save governments and households at least $19 billion by 2050.
As homeowners and small businesses in Queensland and NSW brace themselves for a potential rise in insurance premiums following the devastating flood, Hartwig and Seymour joined the insurance industry’s calls for expanding the government’s cyclone reinsurance pool.
“The reality is that a lot of towns that have been around for a little while have to deal with the impact of decisions that were made 150-years-ago on where some homes and some businesses were located,” Hartwig said, as reported by The Guardian. “So, yes, assistance for individuals to deal with floods would be a good outcome.”
Meanwhile, Seymour calls for the government to at least investigate “extending the scheme to include flooding.” He told The Guardian: “All levels of government need to work together to ensure we have resilient communities.”
With the destruction in Queensland and NSW and the rising number of claims related to the severe weather event and estimated cost of claims, MCG Quantity Surveyors warned people to brace themselves for a “devastating wave” of underinsurance.
“The tragedy is that we predicted this very thing months ago – and it was entirely preventable,” said MGC director Marty Sadlier.
He noted the underinsurance crisis in June 2021 when various factors saw building costs soar amid the COVID-19 pandemic – and it will only worsen in the future.
“Prior to the pandemic, insurance council numbers suggested 83% of owners were already underinsured. We now believe the percentage is far higher – in fact, I’d be surprised if it wasn’t closer to 100% of owners at risk right now,” Sadlier said.
