Government must act on Disaster Insurance

15/11/11

The release of the Natural Disaster Insurance Review must be followed by action, according to Coalition spokesperson on emergency management Senator Humphries.

Yet the Government has cherry-picked the simplest of the recommendations and has left all the tough decisions hanging on further reviews.

“Of the 47 recommendations, the Government has deferred decisions on 39 until further reviews,” Senator Humphries said today.  “Those 39 recommendations dealt with the most important issues surrounding access to affordable flood insurance.

“The Government has had this report since 30 September. After considering the review for 6 weeks, the biggest decision it made was to commit to further reviews.

“Sadly, the Government is too busy trying to fix its budget blowout to make any tough decisions on flood insurance.

“Although it will take some time to implement the full recommendations of the report, the report notes that preparatory work could begin immediately to address its recommendations if the Government wanted to.

“We just can’t have another situation where Australians learn that they’re not covered for flood in the days and weeks after losing their homes.

“This Government is sitting on its hands right at the time when the next disaster season is approaching,” Senator Humphries concluded.