The Federal Government must ensure its reinsurance pool and measures to improve affordability include a focus on problems in WA and the NT, a Broome broker says.

“Since moving over here I have been staggered at the cost of insurance, yet it hardly gets a mention,” Broome Insurance Brokers Director David Keys told insuranceNEWS.com.au. “I want to make sure we are not forgotten as part of this process.”

A Treasury-led taskforce will over the next 12 months finalise details of the reinsurance pool, which will come with a $10 billion Government guarantee.

Cyclone and related flood damage for regions above the Tropic of Capricorn will be covered by the reinsurance pool, announced by Prime Minister Scott Morrison during a visit to northern Queensland ahead of the Budget.

Mr Keys says there’s a lack of insurance data available on property risk in north-west Australia and it seems a broad-brush approach is being taken to the north, despite improved resilience in building standards in the state’s cyclone-prone region over the past two decades.

“You mention anything in WA above the 25th parallel and the shutters go up from the insurance company point of view,” he said. “A lot of them just won’t touch it full stop.”

Mr Keys moved to Broome in 2019 after previously regularly visiting the area. The brokerage is part of the AB Phillips network.

The area is being affected by soaring premiums despite a lack of severe cyclone damage in recent years, he says, while it has also been hit hard by COVID-19 travel restrictions, and has comparatively low household incomes.

Insurance buyers based in Queensland have announced the formation of a Northern Australia Insurance Lobby to ensure the policyholder voice is heard as details of the reinsurance pool are finalised and other initiatives pursued.

The group will also push for the efficient introduction of a $40 million strata title resilience pilot program, which the Federal Government says will start from January, in partnership with the Queensland Government.