The Insurance Council of Australia is working on responses to the more difficult recommendations from the federal floods inquiry and the industry code of practice review, CEO Andrew Hall says.

The floods inquiry made 86 recommendations directed at the industry, regulators and government, and the code review panel made 101 suggestions, with many overlapping.

ICA responded to 78 of the more straightforward proposals in a document released last year.  

Mr Hall says the remaining recommendations can be challenging for various reasons, or their wording can seem “a little bit blunt” or extreme, but it is a matter of looking at the problems behind the proposals and how the underlying issues can be addressed.

An ICA committee of senior executives was formed last year to respond to both parliamentary and industry reports, and it is looking at the remaining proposals.

“We’re working through those at the moment through the lens of, if we can do it, [or] if we can’t do it, why not, and what are they trying to fix?” Mr Hall told an Australian and New Zealand Institute of Insurance and Finance webinar today.

Cost and premium impact changes must also be considered, especially with living-expense pressures, he says.

Mr Hall told the webinar the industry has worked with governments to have “plans and playbooks” for responding to the type of catastrophe now unfolding around Townsville.

It is also consulting with consumer groups on standardisation of maintenance and wear and tear clauses, but it will need Australian Competition and Consumer Commission authorisation before they can be introduced widely.

Mr Hall says the Los Angeles wildfires show the importance of mitigation, pointing to a lack of backburning in hills around the city.

He adds that market intervention has put excessive pressure on the government-backed insurance scheme of last resort.

The program has a cap on claim payments, people receiving cash settlements may still have to sell their land, and the Californian government may need to look for ways to salvage the scheme’s financial situation, he says.

“The latest we’ve heard is that they may do that by implementing a levy on insurers. So it’s just a disastrous situation all around and I think we’ve got to study these situations for lessons that we don’t repeat here.”