As Cyclone Alfred looms, teal MP Zali Steggall has released an exposure draft bill to push for national intervention into a worsening insurance crisis.
New research from the Australia Institute published this morning shows one in five households is either underinsured or has no insurance at all due to soaring premiums.
“When events like Cyclone Alfred hit, a huge proportion of the community stands to lose the bulk of their assets and wealth they have accumulated over their lifetime because it is in their house,” Steggall told ABC’s News Breakfast.
Independent MP Zali Steggall.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
“It’s really important that we start addressing the underlying factor around why insurance is so expensive, which is climate risk.”
Insurance premiums have risen on average 32 per cent since 2022, while communities with flood risk have seen rises more like 100-150 per cent. “It’s simply unaffordable,” Steggall said.
That’s why the independent MP is calling for the federal government to introduce national climate risk assessments to provide visibility of risks on a regular basis, and to invest in adaptation and resilience building to safeguard the future.
Steggall acknowledged that the rising costs insurance companies must foot as extreme weather becomes more common is a “huge problem”, but called for all levels of government to come together with insurers and banks to figure out a path forward.
“We know one dollar invested in preparation and resilience building saves $11 in disaster costs. So this is an investment in the future,” Steggall said.
“We need to legislate that whoever is in government has to have regular adaptation planning so that we mitigate these risks. And that’s the exposure draft bill that I’m releasing today, and I’m calling on whoever forms government post the election to legislate national risk adaptation planning.”
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