Insurers have deemed homes around the region that have been inundated by floods as being in high-risk areas and, as such, have increased premiums, but this also includes homes that were less affected by floods but still in the floodplain area.
In August last year, a federal inquiry into insurers’ responses to the 2022 major floods across Australia began regarding claims, insurance contracts, insurance affordability and other matters relating to their response.
Tensions are ongoing between residents of flooded communities and insurance companies.
During a visit to Shepparton on Thursday, January 18, Victorian Water Minister Harriet Shing addressed the topic of government assistance with insurance and said even though it was in the hands of insurers, both the state and federal governments were working to see what they could do, especially within the inquiry.
“We need to understand how insurance companies are going to be able to participate in alleviating cost relief rather than providing a measure of subsidy for those companies across the insurance sector,” Ms Shing said.
“I’m looking forward to seeing the Commonwealth really work on this issue and to provide a measure of national guidance on the impact of this on people such as those living in Rochester, who are in financial distress, as a result of, in many cases, the increases to household and contents insurance.”
Ms Shing was also asked about the state government review of Lake Eppalock, as managed by Goulburn-Murray Water, which is looking at a technical assessment of the operating and infrastructure arrangements of the lake.
Lake Eppalock is the main water carrier for the Campaspe River, and in the October 2022 floods, large volumes of water ran through the lake and Campaspe River, inundating Rochester.
Ms Shing said the review was ongoing, with full support from both state and federal governments.
“There is now a process of community consultation and engagement to understand the options that are being put forward in that technical assessment and what the community’s views are on decisions to be taken from here,” she said.
“This is about making sure that we have resilience built into our systems and our infrastructure, so I’ve been encouraging councils to complete their flood studies to make sure that they are incorporated into planning approval processes, and additional funding has been made available for that purpose.
“The planning minister and I are working very closely alongside other representatives in the government, including local member and Emergency Services Minister Jaclyn Symes, to not only provide assistance to people in the immediate aftermath of flooding and inundation but also to make sure that as we recover from events that people have not seen before in their magnitude, we’re investing in building back our roads and our infrastructure to be better able to withstand inundation and flooding events into the future.”
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