A federal parliamentarian has slammed insurers’ progress on claims filed after Cyclone Debbie struck northern Australia in March, even though a new record has been set in settling more than 75% of 68,848 claims.

Federal Member for Dawson George Christensen says on his website it is “far from satisfactory” that some houses and businesses in Proserpine, the Whitsundays and Bowen have been left exposed heading into another cyclone season.

But Insurance Council of Australia (ICA) CEO Rob Whelan says the closure rate is running 12% ahead of the experience following similar disasters.

“More than 31,000 homes and businesses have been repaired or received settlements, 20,000 families have had their possessions replaced, and more than 4500 motor vehicles have been fixed or new vehicles provided,” Mr Whelan said last week.

Most of the remaining claims are large-scale building repairs with “often complex” scopes of work.

But Mr Christensen says his office has received numerous complaints of claimants struggling to get an agreed scope of works, and others being offered cash settlements at less than 50% of their scope of works.

He says claimants are being discouraged to engage their own builder, and alleges some customers with outstanding claims have been told their policies will not be renewed.

Mr Whelan says some policyholders are concerned about the pace of rebuilding and has reiterated the industry’s commitment to resolving these matters as “swiftly as possible”.

“ICA and large insurers recently held one-on-one meetings with policyholders in the Whitsunday region, and this has helped to identify and escalate issues to the satisfaction of most customers,” he said.