David Littleproud (Maranoa, National Party, Shadow Minister for Agriculture) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to bring to the parliament's attention an unfolding disaster in western Queensland. It's one that's been perpetrated by the insurance industry. In 2011 we had significant floods across western Queensland in places like Roma, St George and Charleville, and there was significant damage. The entire towns were inundated with water, and the insurance premiums in those areas went rightfully from around $1,500 or $2,000 up to $25,000 or $30,000, and the insurance companies basically held the local, state and federal government to account to make sure that mitigation works were undertaken to ensure that those premiums came down. By 2015, in Saint George, Charleville and Roma, mitigation works were put in place. Levee banks were put in. In fact in Cunnamulla there were levee banks put in place in 1990 that weren't even breached, but they also copped this insurance increase from the insurance industry.

So we had 10 years where, after the levees were put in place, the insurance premiums stayed in line with what the rest of Queensland was paying, around $1,500 to $2,000. Now, in the last 18 months, we are seeing premiums handed to people in Charleville, Roma, St George and Cunnamulla. The last one I saw was for $43,139.96. Who can afford to pay that? We have had a number of floods in those communities where those mitigation works have proven to work, and the insurance industry is like a corporate cancer that is preying on these communities for no reason. When you look when you look at—and they give you the APRA data to show it—the increase in premiums related to the increase of disasters across Queensland, we are paying exponentially above that despite not having any claims. We have not had any major flood claims in those communities, and the Insurance Council of Australia are running cover for the insurance industry that they represent.

It is a shame, and it is now to the point that I have written to the ACCC chair to ask them to investigate this, because we are now seeing that young people cannot go and borrow money to get a mortgage. You need to have insurance to be able to get a mortgage, so, in Roma, St George, Charleville and Cunnamulla, young people can't go and get their first home because they can't get insurance because the insurance premium of $43,000 is more than the mortgage payments. We are only seeing it in these communities. There is a discrimination against these communities. What's happened is we have seen a number of these insurance companies move out of the market, so what they are doing is wanting to get out entirely. This is uncompetitive in what they've been able to do, and it is now time for the ACCC to prove that they do have teeth and that they will protect the people of Charleville, Saint George, Cunnamulla, Roma and the elderly who are giving up their insurance premiums. They need to get affordable insurance so that their homes are protected into the future. I call on the ACCC to look into this quickly.

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