Insurers hope tomorrow’s Federal Budget will include disaster mitigation funding, with recent damage from Cyclone Debbie highlighting the issue.

However, the Government has given no indication it will adopt mitigation recommendations from the insurance industry and other influential organisations.

The Insurance Council of Australia (ICA) and the Actuaries Institute have both pressed the Government to proceed with $200 million-a-year disaster resilience spending, as supported by the Productivity Commission.

“At the moment we have heard no rumours of anything happening in that space,” Actuaries Institute Deputy CEO Elayne Grace told insuranceNEWS.com.au.

But the budget papers may include some cost estimates relating to Cyclone Debbie, she says.

ICA’s pre-budget submission says there is a “concerning imbalance” between natural disaster funding for recovery and mitigation.

The council and the Actuaries Institute have also pushed the Government to publish future natural disaster cost estimates in the budget’s statement of risks.

“This would facilitate a better recognition of the benefits of mitigation measures,” ICA says. “We also submit that the natural disaster recovery budget should be informed by catastrophe modelling, rather than the simple historical average of costs currently used in NSW.”

In other areas, ICA has proposed Australian Law Reform Commission funding for a review of the 1909 Marine Insurance Act, to ensure it aligns with changes last year to the UK legislation on which it is based.

It has also called for an update to the 2007 National Survey of Mental Health and Wellbeing, because current data is not adequate for underwriting. ICA estimates the cost of updating the survey and conducting follow-up analysis would be a “relatively modest” $17-18 million.