Victorian Government pressure to approve claims in the Gippsland region was ignored by the industry, the Insurance Council of Australia (ICA) said last week.

Premier Steve Bracks approved a $60 million relief package last week for towns devastated by floods, which included a $100,000 fighting fund for policyholders seeking legal redress for their insurance claims.

Wesfarmers and RACV Insurance have publicly declared they will view claims as storm-related, while CGU, which is likely to have a larger exposure, has said each claim will be based on its merits.

About $15 million in storm-related claims have been submitted with insurers to date.

ICA spokesman Paul Giles denied any direction was given to members to heed Mr Bracks’ demand that they “look sympathetically on what is an unusual circumstance”.

“The statements from most of our member companies have been they will assess claims on a case by case basis,” Mr Giles said. “The industry has done a remarkable job. The majority of those claims have been paid out.

“The Insurance Ombudsman has found that insurers paid out over 90% of all claims.”