Assistant Treasurer Bill Shorten has outlined his action plan for clarifying insurance policies and dealing with flood cover.

In a condolence speech to Parliament last week in the wake of the Queensland floods, he said he intends to keep his “shoulder to the wheel” in the flood recovery process to get the “necessary outcomes” for those affected.

This will include a raft of reforms ranging from policy disclosure and consumer protection issues to land-planning policies and questions about where people should build.

“Some of these things need to be considered thoroughly, carefully and methodically; others demand more immediate improvement,” Mr Shorten told Parliament.

“A handful of particular ones can help ease some of the strain of the disaster-affected families and improve the insurance sector for the times and unforeseen but inevitable events ahead.”

Talking about the need for a standard flood definition, Mr Shorten says he recognises this is not the “silver bullet” for improving the Australian insurance market – but it is an “overdue and necessary first step”.

Noting the agreement of the Insurance Council of Australia and its members that more needs to be done to formulate a standard definition, he says he acknowledges their view that improving the offering of insurance products is “a good first step”.

“We are discussing with them ways of improving policies, including plain English on policy documents, to make it easier and simpler for customers of home and contents insurance to know exactly… what they are covered for and what they are not covered for and to know their policies.”

Mr Shorten says there are still some concerns the post-flood claims process is “taking too long”.