A national survey aims to highlight the true scale of underinsurance in Australia, as the bushfire season gets off to a devastating early start.

Lives and homes have already been lost in WA and SA, and University of Tasmania researcher Kate Booth says far too many properties are inadequately insured.

The questions on underinsurance form part of the biennial Australian Survey of Social Attitudes, which is managed by the Australian Consortium for Social & Political Research Incorporated.

The survey’s early findings indicate 13% of respondents have no insurance for their assets, including 9% of homeowners without buildings cover, and about a quarter of those insured may not have appropriate levels of cover.

The problem has been much discussed, but there is little solid data available, Dr Booth told insuranceNEWS.com.au.

“This continues to be an under-researched area and we are trying to get some hard facts on what is going on.”

She says lessons of the past seem slow to sink in: the 2009 Black Saturday fires destroyed more than 2000 Victorian homes and killed 173 people, but 13% of property losses were uninsured.

Dr Booth says affordability is an issue, with bushfire-prone urban fringes increasingly populated by low-income earners. Public mistrust in insurance companies also plays a part.