The Insurance Council of Australia has released its federal election platform, flagging 16 ways the next government could act to bring down premiums.

As reported in a Breaking News bulletin last week, the lead item calls for a $30.15 billion flood defence fund to tackle the nation’s “costliest natural disaster”.

The investment would be spread over a decade and split between the federal and NSW, Queensland and Victorian governments.

ICA says these jurisdictions have the most flood-exposed properties.

The fund would aim to deliver new flood defence infrastructure ($15 billion), strengthen properties in harm’s way ($5 billion), pay for buybacks ($10 billion) and future-proof existing mitigation infrastructure ($150 million).

Other recommended reforms centre on better land use planning, more appropriate regulation, making buildings more resilient, locking in Disaster Ready Fund spending, and tackling issues with the motor repair trade.

“Last year, the Australian general insurance sector wrote 41 million policies for households and businesses and incurred more than $32 billion in claims – a critical contribution to both personal and economic security,” ICA CEO Andrew Hall writes in the report’s introduction.

“Yet today, growing risks and cost pressures are impacting the affordability of this vital safety net. Our current cost-of-living crisis is heightening the pressure on insurance customers – whether they’re families or businesses – and making the need to confront this issue even more acute.

“The question is not whether to act, but how.”

See Analysis.