Action on insurance essential

AS THE region responds to another wet season, governments are being pressed, once again, to act on solutions to the ongoing insurance crisis in Northern Australia.

The body representing strata property owners, Strata Community Australia, says communities have been burdened by inflated insurance premiums for too long.

Indeed, these issues have been highlighted in this newspaper for almost a decade.

The latest report by the Australian Consumer and Competition Commission finds an increasing number of people are going uninsured.

For northern Queensland, the commission estimates that 17 per cent or some 62,000 properties are uninsured.

That estimate should be ringing alarm bells.

So far the Federal Government has funded a program to inspect strata properties and recommend mitigation, while the State Government has introduced grants as part of an income-tested program to improve the resilience of some homes.

Clearly, more needs to be done. Acting on the recommendations of the ACCC will be a good start.

Bryant tragedy wake-up call

The outpouring of tributes from people around the world after NBA superstar Kobe Bryant died yesterday was incredible.

This is an athlete that’s transcended his sport. Whether people are basketball fans or not most know who Kobe Bryant is.

They may not be familiar with how good he was but the fact they knew who he was speaks volumes about his legacy.

The helicopter crash that killed Bryant, his daughter and seven other people is horrendous.

It has made people reflect on Bryant’s legacy and what he did for the game. But more importantly it will make people around the world take stock of what they have because for anyone it can be ripped away in an instant.