Paying double for half the insurance
CARAVAN park owner Fiona Lidgett came out of the catastrophic February flood to find her insurance policy premium had doubled and no longer covered cyclone damage, putting her business at risk from another natural disaster.
Ms Lidgett is just one of many North Queensland business owners in insurance strife since the natural disaster.
Townsville Enterprise chief executive Patricia O’callaghan said small businesses had shared “serious concerns” about insurers since the floods.
“Insurance continues to be an issue, with a number of Townsville Enterprise members reporting on premiums doubling and some no longer covering businesses for cyclone protection,” she said.
“This will be one of the items we raise when we meet with relevant ministers in Canberra at the end of this month as this continues as a major impediment to our region’s recovery.”
Ms Lidgett, who co-owns the Bush Oasis Caravan Park in Nome, said she had two insurance policy options before the February flood event.
One would increase premium from $17,000 her to $32,000 a year and the other had an excess of $50,000.
“After the floods we went to take up these policies (and) we were stuck between a rock and a hard place,” Ms Lidgett said.
She quickly renewed public liability insurance to ensure she was covered as workers repaired the facility.
“(The insurer) with the $50,000 excess said because of the floods we will no longer insure you,” Ms Lidgett said.
“We were forced to take out a policy that had doubled in price and no longer covered for cyclones.”
Burdekin MP Dale Last, who has been approached by Ms Lidgett for help, said the lack of insurers willing to cover businesses in North Queensland was an “issue”.
“The way that insurance is provided in North Queensland needs to be completely overhauled,” he said, adding that one option was to compel insurers in Queensland to do a percentage of their business in the North.
An interim ACCC report on an ongoing investigation into the Northern Australia insurance market in December made 15 recommendations, including abolishing stamp duty on insurance products and banning commissions for brokers.
The final report is due in November.