The work of the three-member Natural Disaster Insurance Review panel is a “once in a generation” opportunity to address and solve the problems associated with flood insurance, panel Chairman John Trowbridge says.

Speaking in Sydney last week following a seminar hosted by the Institute of Actuaries and the Insurance Council of Australia, he said the panel has travelled around the country over the past three months to speak to councils and engineers, local politicians, disaster-affected communities, insurers, banks and credit unions.

He told insuranceNEWS.com.au the review team has three months left before it presents a final report to the Federal Government. 

“We’re trying to trying to drum up interest because it hasn’t had the sort of public profile or recognition that things like the Queensland reconstruction authority have had,” he said.

“And a lot of people would like to ignore this.”

Mr Trowbridge says the need to act quickly rather than let the issue drag on is important.

“We have to strike while the iron is hot because if it cools down and there are no natural disasters over the next couple of years, it would be much harder to get the reforms done.”

He says visits to bushfire-affected communities in Victoria has convinced him that getting small businesses back in operation quickly is vital, and that business interruption cover is similarly important.

“For example, there’s a problem in Far North Queensland where strata title insurance has gone through the roof,” he said. “Three months ago that problem wasn’t visible.

“Now you’ve already got an availability problem and you’ve got an affordability problem emerging.”

He says the independent panel wants to put forward a final report that provides “practical proposals that are politically feasible. After that it will be up to [Assistant Treasurer Bill Shorten] to decide if he can get support for our suggestions from Cabinet.”

Mr Trowbridge emphasised to his Sydney industry audience that policy clarity is essential for the community following a catastrophe, and that the industry’s “very high level of performance” in recent years following hailstorms, cyclones and bushfires “made a very significant contribution to helping these communities recover”.

“There was no need to know after a bushfire or cyclone how they were defined in the policy without making specific inquiries,” he said.

“And why do we have the problem [with flood cover]? Because historically flood cover has been uninsurable and unaffordable.”

While he agrees insurers are doing more to make flood cover more widely available in the next few years, he says this “cannot be expected to meet the community’s need for affordable and available flood cover”.