Flood risks on rise
Insurance industry in push for mitigation work
NORTH Queensland’s broken insurance market could potentially be inundated in claims if climate change predictions for rising sea levels prove to be correct.
Scientific modelling on the Coastal Risk Australia website showed that multiple Townsville suburbs could be swallowed by a 0.84m sea water level rise by 2100.
Given that Townsville residents are already struggling to insure homes due to the impact of extreme weather events, there are concerns about the impact of climate change driven sea rise.
North Queensland Insurance Brokers director Ron Bellert said the insurance industry was aware of the potential threats and the impact they would have on the availability and affordability of insurance.
“Rising sea levels is something that cannot be looked at in isolation and needs to be addressed as part of the broader picture,” Mr Bellert
said. “We are currently experiencing issues with insurance availability and affordability all over Australia with all types of climate related perils (eg cyclone, bushfire, flood, hail drought etc).
“Fundamental reform is certainly needed if insurance is to remain viable for the people living in higher risk areas.”
He said there were many initiatives underway both inside and outside of the insurance industry to address this problem.
“From a local perspective one such initiative or reform is the introduction of the reinsurance pool for North Queensland,” he said.
“Due to come into effect mid next year, if designed and set up correctly, it should provide a significant positive for North Queenslanders and their insurance woes.”
An Insurance Council of Australia (ICA) spokesman said some regions could become difficult to insure in the future unless governments invested in appropriate
physical mitigation and adaptation strategies.
“The ICA has long supported the call for all levels of government to increase investment in mitigation and resilience efforts,” the spokesman said
“The 2021-22 federal budget provided $1.2bn over five years to improve Australia’s capability to prepare for, respond to, and recover from natural disasters, and this was undoubtedly good news to be welcomed.”
A Suncorp spokeswoman said improving planning and environment development laws was vital to stop people building in areas that are prone to natural disasters.
“Governments also need to invest in mitigation infrastructure, where viable, to protect communities,” the spokeswoman said.
“Suncorp continues to be a strong voice advocating to the government to improve the resilience of communities like Townsville.
“Only through improved resilience can we ensure that people can be protected.”