'Raping and pillaging': Landlord's anger with nightmare cost

BODY corporate boss unleashes on huge costs dumped on home owners.

Chris Duane, who is chairman of the body corporate for Terralina Court, says insurance companies are charging too much for premiums. Picture: Contributed

A GOVERNMENT backed insurer to help Queenslanders in cyclone zones has not been ruled out.

Capricornia MP Michelle Landry said Central Queensland, particularly the Capricorn Coast, would be included in any efforts the Federal Government carried out to help people with high insurance premiums.

Her comments came after major insurer Suncorp hit out at the possibility of a government-backed cyclone insurer for North Queensland being set up.

A taskforce report last year was spurred amid high insurance costs for households in North Queensland.

Ms Landry said the hardest hit at the moment were people paying Strata Titles.

"People who own units or apartments are finding it very difficult to pay their premiums," she said.

Chris Duane, the chairman of a body corporate for a block of units on the Capricorn Coast named Terralina Court, backed Ms Landry's comments.

"Insurance companies are raping and pillaging Australians," he said.

Mr Duane said when he took over the chair seat four years ago, the first thing the committee looked at was the amount they were paying for insurance.

He said they shopped around and got a better price, but they still paying a lot of money.

Mr Duane said the units were double brick with concrete roofs.

"So they are very sturdy," he said.

One report suggested another body corporate on the Capricorn Coast had received a $10,000 per year increase in its premium.

Ms Landry said old homes which suffered significant damage in cyclones were also impacted by high premiums.

She said there was a long list of recommendations in that report that could help Central Queenslanders.

The Federal Government in March last year seemed to have killed off the notion of establishing such an insurer, noting a taskforce report had highlighted "significant financial risk" associated with such an insurance outfit.

But the government never delivered on a final report by June last year, as intended.

Financial Services Minister Kelly O'Dwyer's office told The Courier-Mail in March this year, the Government was "still considering the findings of the taskforce".

The report's first recommendation was for mitigation.

It said a reinsurance pool, used to protect insurers in major disasters, was more feasible than a mutual insurer, but warned a partially Government-backed scheme in either model would be needed to reduce premiums.

A partially funded scheme had a 10 per cent to 20 per cent chance of costing the Government more than $2 billion, it said. There was a 5 per cent to 10 per cent chance of the cost being more than $5 billion, it said.

Originally published as 'Raping and pillaging': Landlord's anger with nightmare cost