The Hazards Insurance Partnership (HIP) between the Federal Government and the industry has discussed developing national, centralised data resources on severe weather risks, and cover affordability and availability.

The HIP was set up after the October Budget and held its first meeting in February as part of measures to reduce natural disaster risks facing communities and address related insurance issues. A third meeting took place in Canberra yesterday.

Insurance Council of Australia (ICA) CEO Andrew Hall says it’s pleasing to see the group’s advocacy for better data and collaboration between government and industry starting to take shape through the partnership.

“Insurers believe a resilient Australia is an insurable Australia, and it’s for this reason that the affordability and availability of insurance is so critical,” he said following the meeting.

“While we know there is no one solution to this problem, having a better understanding of risk through robust and accessible data will go a long way to assist.”

The HIP is co-ordinated through the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA). Organisations involved include Treasury, the Australian Climate Service and the Australian Bureau of Statistics. Mr Hall is Deputy Chairman and IAG, Suncorp, RACQ, Allianz and QBE are also represented.

The terms of reference say the HIP’s purpose is for the Australian Government and insurers to work together “with the aim of addressing insurance affordability and availability issues as driven by natural hazard risk, to reduce risk for communities and improve Australia’s resilience to natural hazards”.

The partnership’s work sits alongside but separate from the Disaster Ready Fund (DRF), which is providing $200 million annually for five years for resilience and mitigation projects.

Successful projects from round one of the DRF funding are due to be announced by the middle of this year and NEMA has said it expects to commence consultations on round two from next month.