New Zealand Earthquake Commissioner Giselle McLachlan says the scheme’s model “isn’t perfect” but could be a viable option for Australia as it investigates ways to insure against natural disasters.

Speaking at an Australian and New Zealand Institute of Insurance and Finance function in Melbourne on Friday, she said although there are a number of issues with the Earthquake Commission (EQC) model, including the need for higher levies, it achieves its purpose.

“The aim of the scheme is to eliminate any insurer defaults for policyholders – it’s money in the bank for them,” Ms McLachlan said.

“It’s not necessarily a perfect model but it’s a model that could be used [in Australia].”

The EQC provides supplementary cover for householders against earthquake, landslip, volcanic eruption and tsunami, and is funded through premiums, reinsurance and a government guarantee.

Ms McLachlan says having the EQC fund built up to more than $NZ6 billion ($4.4 billion) prior to the two Christchurch earthquakes has put the country in a “fantastic” position to be able to cover the damage bill.

But she says it’s still not clear if there will be enough in the fund to cover the cost of the February 22 Christchurch earthquake.

By far the biggest issue facing most businesses in Christchurch is gaining access to their premises, as many had servers with all data stored onsite at their Christchurch offices.

“From a recovery point of view there is a huge lesson to be learned all over the world,” she said. “It’s pretty challenging stuff.”

She says people now realise Christchurch is not going to be fixed overnight, and that more than 1000 EQC staff and contractors are still doing initial assessments of all the damaged buildings, homes and land.