OPPOSITION Leader Tony Abbott has recognised that the increasing cost of property insurance is a serious problem for people in Central and Northern Queensland.
Responding to strong representations by Federal MP Warren Entsch, Mr Abbott has asked Senator Mathias Cormann, the Shadow Assistant Treasurer and Shadow Minister for Financial Services to work with Mr Entsch and Whitsunday MP George Christensen towards finding a policy solution.
“I welcome the Leader’s instruction and I’m looking forward to working closely with Senator Cormann and Mr Christensen on this,” Mr Entsch said.
“We need to investigate mechanisms that are going to be effective in making it financially competitive for insurance companies to offer policies in our region and price these policies in a way that accurately reflects the risk in our region.”
Mr Entsch said he understood that the insurers had incurred losses from natural disasters in the Pacific region in recent years.
“But if it was due to them underpricing for many years before that as stated in the recent Government Actuary’s report ? then it’s ridiculous that they would try and recoup these losses over two or three financial years,” he said.
“We absolutely must find a way to reduce the financial pressure on property owners by finding ways to help ensure access to more affordable insurance. I, for one, don’t want to see the fallout from a major cyclone coming through when people have $20,000 to $50,000 cyclone excesses or worse, no insurance at all.”
