Changes to the Insurance Contracts Act to allow the adoption of a single definition of flood are likely to be introduced into Federal Parliament later this year, according to Insurance Council of Australia GM Risk and Disaster Planning Karl Sullivan.

But a leading loss adjuster has warned that the industry shouldn’t expect the introduction of the single definition to end many of the issues surrounding flood insurance.

Crawford & Company CEO Andrew Bart told the Claims Convention in Sydney the single definition “isn’t a panacea to all the problems surrounding flood insurance”.

He says arguments will still revolve around the question of where the water came from.

“There might now be agreement about what constitutes a flood, but that expert inquiry will still have to occur, and therefore the same challenges will arise,” he said. “It’s not the silver bullet some are expecting it to be.”

Mr Sullivan says that although the industry indicated its acceptance of the single definition in June, four separate government reviews will have to be completed before the changes to the Act can be made allowing “quick implementation of the definition through regulation”.

“For the first time consumer lobby groups and the insurers are in broad agreement about a set of words and their use,” Mr Sullivan said. “That’s quite significant.”