The ICA believes the $7.9 million allocated to the ACCC to monitor insurance pricing in far north Queensland would be better spent on mitigation. I believe it will be well spent so long as the ACCC has the power to rectify extortion, should it occur. Our premiums in North Queensland escalated 200-1000% after TC Yasi, without warning, and on the frequent occasions I’ve written to the ACCC on the matter I’ve received standard letters basically stating it’s not their problem and there’s nothing they can do about it – with one exception…. Only a week or so before TC Debbie I got a call from the ACCC asking me about insurance premiums, I spoke at length on the matter but whilst they were interested, there was nothing they could do as it wasn’t their problem. I know for certain others have received the same standard emails and letters. Maybe with the money comes the power and, possibly, we have an insurance watchdog at last – this is yet to be seen. A lack of watchdog for the insurance industry means there is absolutely nothing to prevent the insurance companies raising our premiums overnight again by any amount they like as they started doing in 2011 (our apartments went from $25,000 to $81,000 in one year with no claims or warning). We’ve been told part of the problem was under pricing during the previous decade. Well, I’m a shareholder and I have to ask whether that is considered good business practice, accident, incompetence or negligence. People have spoken to me to ask what I think will happen to premiums after TC Debbie, they are not worried or concerned, people are frightened. I haven’t the faintest idea of what’s going to happen except that this time we’ll be told it’s justified (again). I can’t even tell the people of Townsville and Cairns they needn’t worry about their premiums as Debbie hit the Whitsundays and went south, because our premiums went up when Yasi hit between Townsville and Cairns. It is no surprise when IAG (one of the biggest insurance groups operating in Australia) state that 30,000 households are dropping out of the insurance market every year and that the crisis (and it is a crisis) is affecting more than 3,000,000 Australian adults. The ICA are disappointed there is only an allocation of $26.1 million for disaster resilience programs in the budget, they wanted more. If an owner is looking at spending $30,000+ for a new category 5 roof for a house, to reduce their premium by $500-$600 a year, in order to save a future potential claim on an insurance company then the company should be paying towards it and not just the Government and the owner. I actually agree with mitigation, the best thing about it is that to identify mitigation projects there has to be proper risk assessment. Currently risk is assumed and not assessed. However, apart from Suncorp (not the rest of the Group just Suncorp themselves) and RACQ any mitigation which has occurred is ignored. Any design features to prevent cyclone or flooding damage is ignored. Any risk assessment is ignored. So, what is the point of mitigation projects at all if no-one is going to take any notice of them? Warren Entsch MP wants a mutual, George Christensen MP would consider either a mutual or a reinsurance pool. Bob Katter MP backs a State owned insurance company. At least these Members of Parliament are still supporting the fight for fair and affordable insurance premiums for North Queensland, where are the rest? The ICA don’t approve of the insurance projects in the Federal budget or of Government intervention in the industry. The ICA has proved the insurance industry is incapable of regulating themselves otherwise, surely, someone somewhere would have noticed the sudden and massive increases and acted on them. Now it’s time for someone else to be responsible for keeping an eye on the insurance industry, let’s hope the ACCC is up to it.