Susan McDonald (Queensland, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Labor's critics of the reinsurance pool don't live in the north, and they don't reflect the lived experience of thousands of people in the north. In the north we pay more for electricity, building materials, flights and insurance. Our premiums are at least 2½ times what people in the south pay, and that's if insurance companies will even look at you. It's especially grim for businesses. Many are forced to self-insure because no insurance companies will give them coverage.

The coalition government listened, consulted and acted. The $10 billion reinsurance pool will reduce household premiums by up to 46 per cent, give strata title properties a discount of up to 58 per cent and give small-to-medium enterprises a discount of up to 34 per cent. The Townsville Chamber of Commerce calculated that if just two-thirds of the projected savings were spent in the city annually there would be approximately $220 million in economic output—a contribution of $118 million to gross regional product, over $60 million in income and salaries for local workers, and approximately 949 ongoing full-time jobs created, directly and indirectly, through multiplier effects. These numbers did not include reductions in small business premiums. If they did, we would see even greater benefits.

Thank you to customer advocate Margaret Shaw, Assistant Treasurer Michael Sukkar and our North Queensland MPs—Phil Thompson, George Christensen and Warren Entsch—for helping to make this pool a reality.

Northern Australia covers 51 per cent of the country. It has only seven per cent of House of Reps members and senators living there, and 3½ per cent of the population. We're deserving of a go to enjoy the same prosperity as the rest of the country.