Suncorp Group will offer premium discounts to customers who successfully improve their homes' bushfire resilience.
This initiative – announced in conjunction with government figures including Senator the Hon Murray Watt, minister for emergency management, and the Hon Stephen Jones, assistant treasurer and minister for financial services – utilises the Bushfire Resilience Rating app developed by the Resilient Building Council (RBC).
The app allows users to assess the bushfire resilience of their property, offering customised advice to enhance protection against fires.
Suncorp's program rewards those achieving a resilience rating of three stars or higher with lower insurance premiums, signalling a major step forward in incentivising risk mitigation practices.
The announcement was made in the nation's capital, where Suncorp CEO of consumer insurance Lisa Harrison said that the company was committed to empowering Australians in reducing their bushfire risk exposure.
“We welcome the opportunity to support this initiative to arm homeowners with information to help build their bushfire resilience,” Harrison said.
Since its debut in October 2023, the app has seen significant engagement, with over 19,000 households accessing the tool. Out of these, more than 6,600 have completed the assessment and undertaken a minimum of four improvement actions, leading to an average increase of two stars in their resilience ratings.
The potential expansion of this app to cover other natural disasters indicates a broadening scope of risk mitigation efforts that could benefit homeowners across various threats, including floods, storms, and cyclones.
This initiative arrives at a critical juncture, following the severe bushfire seasons experienced in Southeast Australia, including the devastating Black Summer fires of 2019-20.
“For Southeast Australia, where we have experienced some of the most destructive forest fires in recent history, evidence shows that dangerous fire weather conditions have become increasingly more likely over the last 60 years,” said Dr Rhys Whitley, scientific specialist at Suncorp. “Additionally, trends in fire weather conditions are showing a lengthening of the fire season, and recent experience is showing bushfires are starting much earlier in spring. The implications of this are reduced windows for mitigation practices such as prescribed burning.”
Suncorp's initiative to support the Bushfire Resilience Rating app follows the insurer's partnership with the Australian Collision Industry Alliance (ACIA).
