More assessors on the ground in FNQ to aid recovery from Cyclone Jasper
Insurers are ramping up their response to the flooding following Tropical Cyclone Jasper with more assessors on the ground to help Far North Queenslanders get back on their feet.
Cairns
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Insurers are ramping up their response to the flooding following Tropical Cyclone Jasper with more assessors on the ground to help Far North Queenslanders get back on their feet.
On Thursday December 21 the Insurance Council of Australia declared the event an Insurance Catastrophe, prioritising claims for affected policyholders across Far North Queensland.
The council advised that as of December 28, 5,585 claims had been made in connection with Cyclone Jasper and the flooding that followed, with early estimates of up to $1bn in damage.
At 1.30pm Boxing Day, RACQ had received 596 insurance claims, including 396 home and contents and 200 motor vehicle claims, since the cyclone first hit the region.
Group CEO David Carter was in Cairns on Wednesday visiting flood-affected members and stakeholders to understand the full extent of the impact and offer support.
Mr Carter said RACQ’s priority right now was to support members.
“Our teams have been organising temporary accommodation for members whose homes have been severely damaged and providing them with cash payments to make emergency purchases,” he said.
“As of today, we have additional assessors on the ground to complete scope of works and
accelerate the rebuilding process.
“While some assessments have been completed, we continue to see a constant flow of claims
and our assessors can quickly assess and allocate work as we move into helping to rebuild
people’s homes and get them back on their feet.”
Last week federal Emergency Management Minister Murray Watt said insurers had a legal and moral obligation to pay out eligible insurance claims lodged outside the limited time frame for the federal government’s Cyclone Reinsurance Pool, and any suggestion otherwise was “untrue and dishonest”.
“I am disgusted with some of the comments of some insurers we have seen over the past 24 hours, who are trying to create the impression that because of issues with the Cyclone Reinsurance Pool, that people won’t be able to claim their insurance,” Senator Watt said.
“That is absolutely untrue, it is absolutely unhelpful, and it is disgusting for insurers to try and pass the buck away from their responsibilities to pay people their insurance premiums.”
Insurers hit back at this statement saying they working to quickly pay out claims.
Sure Insurance managing director Bradley Heath said “We are not playing silly buggers.
“We’re out there pushing very hard to do the very best we can for our customers and I just don’t think the comment from the minister was helpful in the context of what we’re trying to do, not just at Sure, but as an industry.”
An ICA spokesman said the operation of the Reinsurance Pool had no impact on the claims process for insurance policy holders but they were aware of issues with housing for those displaced by flooding.
“The ICA has been made aware of challenges relating to the availability of temporary accommodation for areas around Cairns and, together with insurers, are working with local authorities to secure housing options for those impacted,” she said.
ICA president Nick Hawkins said long term investment in resilience and mitigation infrastructure was needed to future-proof somewhat against disasters.
“We need better land use planning to stop new development in high risk locations, and to relocate or buy back properties that just cannot be protected from the risk,” he said.
“We need improved building codes, and to extend household-level resilience programs such as home raising and retrofitting to make buildings more resilient.”
He said inefficient taxes on insurance needed to be removed to improve affordability.
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Originally published as More assessors on the ground in FNQ to aid recovery from Cyclone Jasper
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