Northern Australia Insurance Premiums Taskforce advisory panel member Margaret Shaw is a finalist in next month’s Queensland Regional Achievement & Community Awards.

Ms Shaw, the project’s consumer representative, has spent the past four years fighting against significant premium rises in northeast Queensland following Cyclone Yasi in 2011.

She told insuranceNEWS.com.au that after the storm, premiums soared by 200-800% despite “most properties having no damage whatsoever”.

She says four years of “jumping up and down” has resulted in insurance companies offering improved products, with one local reporting their premium for a complex of five units dropping from more than $10,000 to $2000.

“If we hadn’t started the fight, I don’t think we’d be getting these new products,” Ms Shaw said.