IAG has again pushed the benefits of mitigation in a submission to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s inquiry into insurance in the country’s north.

The insurer says it understands rising premiums have caused concern, but this must be put into the context of underlying risk and increasing claims costs.

“It is important to recognise that risk is the key driver of the price of insurance, and IAG believes that solutions focusing on risk mitigation and access to information will keep significant pressure on pricing and continue to cause rapid innovation to the betterment of the consumer,” it says.

IAG believes the most effective way to address the affordability issue is through “a nationally co-ordinated and well-resourced” disaster resilience program.

It supports a “co-ordinated and collaborative approach” involving all levels of government, the community and insurers.

Information is critical, it says, and while hazard and risk exposure data has improved significantly, it needs to be more consistent and available.

“IAG believes the key to better understanding impacts of natural perils is the availability of accurate, current data and relevant research. Yet crucial natural disaster information is difficult and costly to access, often incomplete or out of date and frequently duplicated across sources.”

IAG says scrapping all state government taxes on general insurance products would be an important first step in addressing insurance affordability.

“Immediate taxation relief on north Queensland insurance products, particularly mandatory products such as strata insurance, presents the most expeditious and effective means of bringing immediate premium relief to north Queensland.”