The Federal Government’s $1 billion Disaster Ready Fund should not be the only focus for infrastructure spending to boost resilience, Assistant Treasurer Stephen Jones has told the Insurance Council of Australia (ICA) annual conference.

Mr Jones told the conference that the Government has a large infrastructure program that complements the work of the fund, which has committed $200 million a year of federal monies to resilience over five years.

“We need to think about how some of these resiliency mitigation effects are built into infrastructure planning and spending right across the board, not just the stuff we do in a fund which is set aside specifically to do with those issues,” he said today.

Mr Jones, asked about the potential to boost the Disaster Ready Fund, said a decision would be made next year, or the year after, while also saying that it is part of a number of responses to reduce risks, and that government is working with industry through the Hazards Insurance Partnership.

“What we're doing is just the start, we need to do a lot better at future-proofing our communities. That means more focus on land use planning, on infrastructure, and on building codes,” he said.

He also pointed to the influence that the Commonwealth can have on state and territory jurisdictions, in a more co-ordinated approach, given funds it provides for assistance after disasters.

“Increasingly, the Commonwealth Government is saying, ‘well, if we do this, we don't want to drive past a new housing development going on just down the road, which luckily escaped the flood this time around, but probably won't next time around’,” he said. “These decisions have to be joined up.”

Mr Jones, in response to a question on whether the Federal Government would look to fund buy-backs, in areas such as the Nepean area, said not building more homes in harm's way is the priority.

“You can be pretty sure that there'd be no appetite from the Commonwealth Government to be doing buybacks when, right next door, we're doing exactly the same thing in another development,” he said.

Mr Jones has called on the insurance industry to better reward people who take actions to reduce their own risk, through measures such as raising electrical outlets, or elevating a floor.

The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) is reviewing existing efforts across both government and the insurance industry to develop a bank of private mitigation actions that can be taken to reduce the impacts of natural hazards.

“It will give us the first consolidation of mitigation activities into a knowledge base, which will work towards reducing risk for households and for communities,” he said. “We know it can work and we know it can be a powerful input to driving down pressure on household premiums.”

Mr Jones says a better job is needed at making sure that both public and private mitigation measures are recognised locally as well as overseas, with reinsurance partners.

“When the global reinsurers hear us talk about our commitment to addressing climate change, they mark us up,” he said.

“When they see us taking steps to reduce the risks associated with severe weather events and climate change they mark us up, it makes a difference. But when they see us make dumb decisions, which can compound poor planning decisions that have been made over the last 200 years, all of that work is undone.”

Mr Jones, who was also asked about issues in the public liability sector, says the Government’s preferred approach generally is to deal with risks rather than mask them.