Joint media release with the Hon Dr Daniel Mulino MP
The Albanese Government and the insurance industry have reached a significant milestone in their ongoing work through the Hazards Insurance Partnership to improve the availability and affordability of insurance around Australia.
The Guiding Principles for resilience investment released today provide
an agreed basis to support the prioritisation of investment that reduces risk; improve recognition of effective risk reduction activities in insurance pricing and availability; and can inform the design of future resilience and disaster risk reduction funding programs.
The Principles are a shared commitment by the Albanese Government and insurers to focus investment where it will have the most impact by reducing risk through both household‑level measures - such as resilient building materials and targeted retrofits - and community‑level mitigation, including infrastructure like levees.
Natural hazard risk is increasing in many areas of Australia, adding pressure to the cost of insurance and widening the insurance protection gap in higher‑risk areas.
The Albanese Government is committed to helping communities better prepare and recover more quickly from natural disasters.
The Guiding Principles have been developed through the Hazards Insurance Partnership, which brings together the Albanese Government, the Insurance Council and commercial participants from the insurance and reinsurance sector to address the most pressing challenges facing Australia's insurance market.
Quotes attributable to the Assistant Treasurer and Minister for Financial Services, Daniel Mulino
"The agreement of these principles is significant in supporting Australia's long-term economic resilience.
"Having investments which mitigate the risk from a natural disaster recognised in insurance pricing will help affordability.
"It's part of the work to reduce the risk Australian's face from an increasingly extreme weather events."
Quotes attributable to the Assistant Minister for Emergency Management, Josh Wilson
"The Guiding Principles mark an important step in strengthening collaboration between governments and insurers.
"Reducing risk before disasters strike is one of the most powerful ways to protect communities, improve recovery outcomes and ensure the availability and affordability of insurance.
"By guiding smarter investment in resilience and mitigation measures, the Hazards Insurance Partnership will help households and communities to be better prepared in the face of more frequent and more intense weather events."
Quotes attributable to the Insurance Council of Australia CEO, Andrew Hall
"It is critical that industry and governments work together to target investment where it will have the most impact on reducing risk.
"Flood levees, cyclone-resilient building standards and bushfire-proofing measures make a material difference to whether homes can withstand the extreme weather events they face.
"The alternative is a costly cycle of rebuilding the same homes, in the same way, only for them to be damaged again in the next disaster."
