Susan McDonald (Queensland, National Party) | Hansard source

Getting back to the cyclone reinsurance pool, it is of course relevant for northern Australia and the people in that part of the country, who generate an enormous part of the wealth for this nation. Yet, once again, we will see the south not want to give us a go, if you listen to the opposition. If you listen to the Greens, they'd have us completely depopulated and wiped out because of their lack of understanding of the circumstances in the north. So, before you call for the pool to be rolled out nationally, give northern Australia an opportunity to rectify the terrible imbalance that has been in place.

Since Cyclone Yasi in 2011, insurance has more than trebled for many people. For strata titles, a premium for 25 units has gone from $25,000 to at least $100,000 today. This forces body corporate fees to be painfully high and is forcing retirees out of their forever homes that they'd bought to retire in. About 20 per cent of northern Australians are uninsured, and more are underinsured. The rest of Australia has not had to deal with this issue, and we deserve a chance for this to be rectified first. One Townsville resident was recently quoted $14,000 to insure a $335,000 home, despite having been with the insurer for more than 20 years. We have had so many insurers and underwriters withdraw from the north that the market is in terrible disarray.

During the Senate Economics Legislation Committee inquiry into the Treasury Laws Amendment (Cyclone and Flood Damage Reinsurance Pool) Bill, we had a terrific opportunity to do a deep dive into the issues in northern Australia—not in southern Australia or other places where people live but in northern Australia, where the market is truly in disarray. It was a great opportunity to hear from the people who live there and pay these insurance premiums, and I just want to quote Tyrone Shandiman from the Northern Australia Insurance Lobby, whose final words at the end of his testimony were simply, 'Pass the bill.'

I just want to refer to the opposition's support for this legislation. I want to thank them for their acknowledgement of the issues in northern Australia and the importance of this legislation, and I hope that they will stand by those words when it comes to the vote, because we obviously can't rely on the Greens party to do anything remotely practical to support northern Australia. They would instead try to move amendments that would ensure that this bill would never be passed and that we would never see a rectification of the true injustice of costs. Reflecting their truly communist background, they would be trying to socialise the costs of insurance right across this country.

I recommend this bill to the Senate. It is an incredibly important piece of legislation to pass to ensure that homes, communities and businesses continue to survive, because in the north we know how to manage variable climates and live through great seasonal events. We are experts at it, but what we need is a hand. We need a hand with our very small population, our 1.3 million people across all of the top half of the country. We need a hand to support us to continue reinvesting in the north and to allow us to prosper and, subsequently, Australia to prosper.