The National Insurance Brokers Association (NIBA) is resisting calls for a flood reinsurance pool in the wake of the devastating east coast catastrophe.

Many politicians are arguing to extend the cyclone pool, which is currently going through Parliament, to include all flood risks.

The Insurance Council of Australia says a flood pool “is not required at this time”, preferring governments to focus on resilience spending, and NIBA agrees.

“We’ve got to bed down the cyclone reinsurance pool first,” CEO Phil Kewin told insuranceNEWS.com.au.

“There is going to be a lot of discussion after these floods but we are not convinced.”

NIBA believes the message on mitigation is getting through to politicians.

“There does seem to be an acceptance from different levels of government that it could be much more cost-effective to avoid the impact of these events rather than just cleaning up afterwards,” Mr Kewin said.

Writing in NIBA’s latest magazine, he says the response of the government and the insurance industry to the floods will “come under great scrutiny”.

“We know for some time the issues of risk mitigation and resilience have been discussed, along with urban planning, and I get a sense that when certain areas are subject to a one in one hundred year flood twice in two years, there has to be a more substantial response than just rebuild and move on.”