Two major reinsurers will join the Hazards Insurance Partnership, and the Australian Reinsurance Pool Corporation will become an observer at meetings.

A communique after the seventh meeting of the government and industry group says the additions reflect the evolution of the partnership and the need to ensure it hears from all parts of the insurance sector. 

An additional “major insurer” will also join the partnership, established by the Albanese government to improve resilience and seek measures to improve insurance affordability and availability.

The latest meeting looked at opportunities to ensure government and household disaster risk reduction action translates to downwards premium pressure, while members also discussed a national flood risk prioritisation approach to identify high-priority catchment areas.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics provided an update on development of a database to better understand coverage issues and the partnership agreed to proceed with collecting aggregated and non-identifiable data to generate a national picture of insurance affordability and coverage by August.  

“Concurrently, privacy and other relevant assessments are under way to ensure the appropriate treatment of policy-in-force insurance data as it is transferred securely from insurers into the ABS environment to build the enduring data asset,” the partnership says. 

The National Emergency Management Agency is developing an online toolkit to support increased community and household awareness of natural hazard risks, encouraging action to prepare for and mitigate against threats. 

A working group will meet on June 18 and the next partnership meeting will be on August 29.