The Insurance Council of Australia has called for a national Food Defence Fund (FDF) in a policy document recommending priorities for the re-elected Albanese Labor Government.
The centrepiece of the Advancing Australia’s Resilience report is the plan for a A$30.15 billion ten year investment to create the FDF to protect the nation’s most at-risk catchments in Queensland, New South Wales, and Victoria.
The cost of the fund would be split between the Federal Government and governments in the three states, which are the jurisdictions with the most flood-exposed properties.
The fund would spend A$15 billion on flood defence infrastructure, A$5 billion on strengthening properties in harm’s way, A$10 billion on property buy-backs and another A$150 million on future proofing existing infrastructure.
“Consumers however cannot wait for mitigation and risk reduction programs to offer the critical protection and price relief needed,” said Kate Cotter, the founder and chief executive of the Resilient Building Council.
“Insurers stand ready to play their part in this important reform, but significant new government investment is the only way to reduce extreme weather risk and must underpin our future collaborative endeavours.”
“We know there is no silver bullet. However, if we don’t do anything, insurance customers, governments and taxpayers will continue to pick up the much higher costs of rebuilding every time there is a natural disaster and insurance risks becoming unavailable and affordable for those Australians who need protection the most.”
The report says that while flood is Australia’s costliest weather risk, less than half of the 1.36 million properties at the highest risk do not meet modern flood resilience and building standards.
It estimates that just under 300,000 of these properties – comprising 225,000 homes and 73,000 businesses – face at least a two or five per cent chance of flooding each year.
“The FDF is a big idea to confront a big problem – a problem that is predicted to worsen with a changing climate and growing population,” the report says.
“The floods of February-March 2022, three years ago this week, caused the loss of 23 lives, devastated communities, and saw insured losses of almost A$6.4 billion.”
