Rochester residents hit by huge insurance premium jumps

Two years on from the Rochester floods, residents say insurance companies haven’t played a straight bat.

Insurance companies substantially underestimated the cost to rebuild Rochester, with one community leader’s housing bill six times more than originally quoted.

Tracie Kyne’s home was one of around 900 properties damaged when floodwaters submerged the northern Victorian town in October 2022.

After months of negotiation, Ms Kyne received a settlement offer from her insurance company that was more than 600 per cent higher than the original offer.

Despite the considerable price tag, she told The Weekly Times it was still not enough to rebuild her house to the Insurance Council of Australia’s recommended height.

Rochester resident Tracie Kyne.

“We started off with a figure around $40,000, that quickly went to $130,000 then $248,000. “We’re one of the lucky ones, if you can call it luck, in that we didn’t accept the original offers put forward by the insurers.

“Rochester is ground zero for the way insurance companies are treating average Australians.

“They need to show some more compassion, some more empathy.”

More than 13,000 claims were lodged across northern Victoria after the 2022 floods, caused by the swelling of the Goulburn and Campaspe rivers.

The ICA has confirmed more than 100 claims in Rochester and surrounding districts are yet to be finalised, as the two-year anniversary of the flooding recently elapsed.

Ms Kyne was one of several Rochester residents to relay their story to state parliamentarians at a Spring Street inquiry

The inquiry handed down 90 findings and 73 recommendations but the state government is yet to make a formal response.

“The insurance premiums have blown out in the past few years,” Ms Kyne said.

“For instance, our son works as a barber and the insurance premium on his shop in the middle of town has gone from $1800 to $5000 in next to no time. That’s just one incident — there are so many stories like that around Rochester.”