Sussan Ley (Farrer, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Childcare and Early Childhood Learning) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This morning my office attended a briefing by officials of Emergency Management Australia. I thank the Attorney-General and Minister for Human Services for ensuring that local members are being kept up to date with the federal response to the recent emergencies and disasters.

It struck me yesterday, during the often heartbreaking recounts of these events by my colleagues, the number of times the insurance industry was mentioned as a semipermanent or permanent obstacle in the overall recovery effort. I acknowledge insurers are now coming to realise that the wording of their policies does need to reflect the reality of a flood event, and that a person’s home is damaged whether the water comes from the sky or elsewhere. I also ask, after numerous examples in my own electorate of Farrer, that insurers look at their social conscience with regard to the human beings who make these claims.

I wondered, too, why a customer who phoned their insurer was knocked back, yet when their local MP called on their behalf the claim was suddenly approved. In a number of cases in my region insurers reluctantly agreed to pay out on someone’s contents but not that same person’s home. The insurers alleged the property had been poorly maintained or not kept up to scratch.

The insurance industry self-analysis needs to be full and thorough, and reflect what should be their core business: assisting real people in their real time of need.