Suncorp has called for Household Resilience Programs similar to the Queensland model to be rolled out in other states and focused according to local natural peril risks.

The insurer’s Pre-Budget Submission to the Federal Government requests funding of public and private mitigation including the South Rockhampton and Bundaberg East flood levee projects and an expansion of the Queensland Household Resilience Program, in conjunction with the state government.

The Queensland program provides grants for cyclone upgrades, but Suncorp says resilience against other perils such as flood and bushfire could also be targeted in co-operation with state governments in an expansion with similar arrangements.

“I think government can step in and provide subsidies for people to improve the resilience of their own homes,” CEO Steve Johnston told insuranceNEWS.com.au.

The submission says the 2021-22 budget should fund the first phase of a National Resilience Plan of risk-reducing projects in vulnerable regions throughout Australia.

Measures would also include better co-ordination and collaboration between agencies, landholders supported to manage their vegetation and traditional owners engaged to increase their involvement in land and fire management, as recommended by last year’s natural disasters royal commission.

The royal commission recommendations included an advisory body for ministers on policy and operations considerations.

“This body should be established immediately, with the Insurance Council of Australia appointed as a member,” Suncorp says.

Mr Johnston says improving public infrastructure, household resilience and planning laws, as well as reforming taxation, are critical measures that should be pursued.

A number of inquiries and reviews have promoted increased mitigation spending and the removal of stump duties on insurance.

Mr Johnston says stamp duties in Queensland and NSW are applied on top of premiums and the goods and services tax, ultimately leading to state and federal governments picking up more costs after disasters as private insurance is discouraged.

“It is hard to find a state government that is going to remove an income stream without the Commonwealth stepping in and saying how they are going to substitute it,” he said.

“It is a very important debate to be had and I think it is best under the banner of broader tax reform, managed by the Federal Government.”

Mr Johnston says there are strong reasons for governments to support mitigation and other reforms in the current environment, despite reluctance to act in the past.

“I see a real opportunity here for a nation-building program that is lined up around stimulatory economic growth,” he said.

“All the things I have talked about will create jobs, they will stimulate economic growth and they will create a more viable private insurance industry.”