The ferocity of bushfires in recent years is causing authorities to be less positive about the benefits of householders choosing to “stay and defend” their properties, according to NSW bushfire expert Phil Koperberg.

He told a conference in Sydney last week that the number and intensity of bushfires is increasing because “Australia’s meteorology is becoming more unstable and unpredictable”.

Mr Koperberg, a former NSW Rural Fire Service commissioner, was appointed as the Blue Mountains Bushfire Recovery Co-ordinator following devastating fires in the area last October.

Speaking at the annual Claims Convention organised by the Australasian Institute of Chartered Loss adjusters and the Australia and New Zealand Institute of Insurance and Finance, he said the “stay and defend” option is “the biggest asset that the community has to minimise property loss”.

“This is provided that all the boxes have been ticked in terms of physical health, mental health, preparedness, house condition, proximity to vegetation and access to firefighting equipment,” he said.

“But there are so many boxes to tick the authorities are becoming more and more reluctant to be staunch advocates of the ‘stay and defend’ policy. It’s in a state of flux at the moment.”

He says if the policy was abandoned it would have implications for the insurance industry.

Calling for greater levels of “ongoing and regular” dialogue between the industry and policyholders, Mr Koperberg says a new risk model should be developed for bushfire-prone areas “because there needs to be more understanding of the risks upon which the policy is based and the risk is calculated”.

“Unless there is dialogue between the policyholder and the company on what level they should be insured for depending on the risk, we’re going to see a repetition of this problem again and again and again, where communities are underinsured.”

He says new regulations setting greater levels of fire-resistance have affected many of the October fire victims, whose insurance cover is not enough to meet new construction and materials standards set by the NSW Government.

“We can’t afford to have another community wake up with the realisation that they’re [each] underinsured by about $200,000,” he said. “The reality is that 10 months after [the Blue Mountains] fires, more than 50% of the people who lost their homes cannot afford to rebuild.”

Mr Koperberg also praised insurance companies for their “extraordinary generosity” after the bushfires.

“I must say that we as a society are quick to knock insurance companies [but] in this particular event they set a very fine example of morality dealing with cases sympathetically and generously.

“In many cases where there were tricky issues of disputation of [outbuildings like sheds and garages] not being strictly covered under a policy, in most cases insurers said okay, we’ll deal with it in the clean-up.”