Australia’s reluctance to use public-private partnerships to mitigate the risk of natural catastrophes could be set to change following talks between global experts and government authorities.

Swiss Re Global Head of Public Sector Reto Schnarwiler was in the country last week to meet with various government agencies along the eastern seaboard.

He told insuranceNEWS.com.au the discussions remain at an “early stage”, but identified plenty of scope for using public-private mechanisms to protect public infrastructure from natural catastrophe exposure.

“At the moment the Federal Government tends to rely on self-insurance in many cases,” he said. “They want to push more of that burden to the private sector and to local government, to manage those risks and be more active going forward. Insurance is well equipped to handle that risk.”

Swiss Re has already established a range of public-private partnerships globally including a scheme for earthquakes in California, a multi-catastrophe fund in Mexico and hurricane and earthquake facility in the Caribbean.

“On the public side you have the legislative power to introduce measures to reduce and manage risk,” Mr Schnarwiler said. “On the private side you have the risk appetite and innovative capacity to introduce these mechanisms.

“The combination of the two can be very effective.”