Help to ease the wind chill

INSPIRED to help farmers navigate complicated insurance red tape and processes, one Far North woman decided to pave her own way in the industry.

After 20 years as an insurance broker, Tully resident Karen Hardy said she grew tired of seeing Far North Queensland residents on the back foot after facing devastating weather events such as cyclones.

After seeing the impacts of tropical cyclone Yasi in 2011, Ms Hardy said she noticed how difficult it was for locals, in particular farmers, to access government assistance or loans and insurance claims.

“That was really heartbreaking,” Ms Hardy said.

“Because farmers lost their crops, which aren’t insurable, they couldn’t afford to keep farm hands on and this in turn meant the small businesses like the coffee shop closed because they didn’t have the clientele.”

Ms Hardy said she saw much of the same difficulties arise after tropical cyclones Larry in 2006, Marcia in 2015 and Debbie in 2017.

Ms Harding said it inspired her to develop Redicova, a parametric wind insurance which provides an agreed lump sum payment to a resident if they suffer economic loss at their insured property as a result of a severe tropical cyclone.

“The need for Redicova arose from the fact we don’t have enough assessors in Australia,” she said.

“We don’t have enough people on the ground – most of the communities that are affected would be considered isolated because they are regional.

“So in that period between the event and the actual assessment occurring, there’s a time lag of at least a few weeks before people really start to see anyone on the ground.”

Ms Harding estimated that if repairs or settlements were offered, they could take three months or up to years to be completed, during which time people were left struggling.

“We can actually get money into the pockets of the people so they can afford to stay in their communities and we won’t have the mass exodus because of the loss of jobs, as it is all primarily agriculture in North Australia,” she said.

Redicova is backed by Lloyd’s of London and Lloyd’s Disaster Risk Facility.