Australia must urgently adapt to extreme weather or face soaring premiums, insurers warn

Sun, 19 Nov 2023 03:39:44 +1100

Andrew Pam <xanni [at] glasswings.com.au>

Andrew Pam
<https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/oct/18/australia-must-urgently-adapt-to-extreme-weather-or-face-soaring-premiums-insurers-warn>

"Global insurers say Australia is running out of time to reduce its
vulnerability to the climate crisis and faces higher premiums for households
and businesses.

“They said, ‘you’ve got five years basically’,” said the federal assistant
treasurer, Stephen Jones, who led a delegation last month to insurance centres
in London and Munich.

“They like what we’re saying but they want to see that backed up by action.

“Insurance affordability is a key economic issue,” Jones said. “It’s on the
boil now but I think it’ll be a significant issue over the next couple of
years.”

Insurance costs have jumped in the past year, becoming one of the largest
contributors to higher inflation. CBA’s latest spending survey found consumers
spent 12.9% more on insurance than a year ago, the biggest increase among its
12 categories.

“We are in a global race for capital,” said the chief executive of the
Insurance Council of Australia, Andrew Hall, who accompanied Jones. Australia
must “tell a better risk management story” by coordinating efforts at all
levels of government to improve land-use planning and building codes, or
insurance costs would rise further.

About a third of premium increases have come from a surge in reinsurance rates,
which have risen by about a fifth in the past year to two-decade highs. Eastern
Australia’s floods last year alone caused insured losses of $6.8bn, making it
the county’s largest natural catastrophe claims event, SwissRe said."

Cheers,
       *** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net               Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/                 Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/            Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/               Manager, Serious Cybernetics

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