The Insurance Council of Australia (ICA) has stepped up its call for increased resilience investment and better policy focus, saying the country “cannot continue with business as usual” after natural disasters led to a record $7.168 billion in insured damages last year.

It released a report today with a list of recommendations, including several which have been raised previously, that it says will better prepare Australians for future disasters.

ICA pressed again for the extension of the five-year $1 billion Disaster Relief Fund and to improve land-use planning so that new homes are not built in the direct line of flood, fire, cyclone and coastal hazards.

“In the aftermath of such extreme events, collectively we should be asking ourselves whether it’s safe to rebuild and if it is, how do we build to withstand future events?” ICA CEO Andrew Hall said in the report’s foreword.

“The key here is building back better and stronger, and away from harm. There are many lessons to be learned…  but the key one is that we cannot continue with business as usual and must change what we build and where we build it."

He says the report, Building Australia’s Resilience, charts a path for “how we can build on… existing initiatives to create a more resilient Australia, lessening the impact when disaster strikes and ensuring we don’t continue to put communities in harm’s way”.

“Insurance prices risk, and Australia needs to stand out as having a positive story to tell around reducing risk particularly for communities most impacted by flood, cyclone, bushfires and actions of the sea,” Mr Hall says on his LinkedIn.

In the report, ICA also urges governments to improve the way risks are being explained to Australians. It cites the often-use phrase of “one in 100-year flood risk” as one that is causing confusion.

“Governments must improve how the likelihood and consequences of flood risk are communicated to the Australian public,” the report says.

The “one in 100-year flood” risk has been mistakenly understood by many in the community to mean a property should flood once in every one hundred years.

“In reality, a 1% chance of flooding each year means a property is more likely than not to flood significantly at least once in 70 years,” the report says.

“It also doesn’t exclude the possibility of an event of similar size occurring in a shorter timeframe once it has been experienced.”

The report also wants more disclosure of extreme weather risks at the real estate stage of property acquisition and for hazard information to be a standard feature of contracts for property buyers and renters.

Click here for the report.