Hundreds of delegates enjoyed a street-party welcome last night as the National Insurance Brokers Association Convention got under way in style in Adelaide.

Speakers this morning at the event, themed Beyond the Status Quo, included NIBA CEO Richard Klipin, president Gary Okely and former NSW Rural Fire Service commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons.

Some 800 delegates also heard from the convention’s charity partner, Backpacks 4 SA Kids, and a panel tackled the key challenges in general insurance.

Mr Klipin said the convention would encourage attendees to “consider what the future looks like” in a “complex and evolving world”.

Mr Okely said brokers “always put our clients number one”, but the federal flood inquiry report’s 86 recommendations create “real opportunity” to provide further help.

Mr Fitzsimmons gave an emotive speech about the impact of the devastating 2019-20 bushfire season, when 2400 homes were destroyed and 26 people died in NSW, including seven firefighters.

Welcome rain arrived in February 2020, but relief quickly flipped into more devastation in the form of floods. “The trouble was it didn’t stop raining then for about three years,” he said. “It was an extraordinary compounding effect of disaster after disaster after disaster.”

ICA CEO Andrew Hall, speaking on the panel, discussed the challenge of responding to the flood inquiry recommendations, as well as more than 100 recommendations from the insurers’ code review panel.

Community expectations are rising, he said, and “if we keep failing that test, we lose the trust of the community and our licence to operate”.

Tomorrow features a speech from Financial Services Minister Stephen Jones, and presentation of awards at the gala dinner.

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