By Rachel Clun
Australians cannot continue to build on floodplains, Assistant Treasurer Stephen Jones has warned, as the federal government investigates the risks and insurance issues caused by severe flooding.
Next month the government will launch a parliamentary inquiry into the insurance fallout from the 2022 floods, with some families still without permanent homes as they wrangle insurance claims.
Flooding in the NSW town of Forbes in November 2022.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
Speaking from the central west NSW town of Eugowra, one of several in the region hit hard in late 2022 by flooding, Jones said the community deserved answers.
He said the inquiry would look at insurance coverage and the underlying risk, and that the federal government was focused on ensuring it was not putting homes and communities in peril.
“We want to ensure that at the very least, we’re not building more houses and suburbs in floodplains,” Jones said.
“We want to ensure that at the very least when we are building things back, whether it’s infrastructure or houses, then we’re building them back faster, better and more resilient to the risks in the areas that they live in.”
Jones also visited Cudal and Molong with local MP Andrew Gee ahead of launching the inquiry. The assistant treasurer said he expected it would receive the full support of parliament.
Gee, a former Nationals member turned independent, said there was a great injustice unfolding in the region as locals battled insurance companies while trying to rebuild their lives.
“We’re eight months after the event and still no movement on many insurance policies and claims. It’s not right, and I think the nation needs to know what is happening here,” he said.
“[It] is very, very hard to rebuild and move on with your lives while still fighting insurance companies over ridiculous, petty issues like a leaning footing – I mean it is truly outrageous – and that’s why they need to be held to account.”
Federal Assistant Treasurer Stephen Jones (right) and independent MP Andrew Gee speak to Lesley and Brian Smith outside their flood and storm-ravaged house in Eugowra.Credit: AAP
Nearly every state and territory experienced serious flooding last year.
The Insurance Council of Australia estimated the 2022 floods in south-east Queensland and NSW caused nearly $5.9 billion in insured damages, the most expensive natural disaster in terms of insurance costs in Australia’s history.
For Brian and Lesley Smith, it has been a drawn-out ordeal. Brian said it was heartbreaking to still be fighting with insurers eight months on from the disaster.
“We’ve got a house we can’t live in,” he said. “We moved here to settle down and retire. We can’t do that now because of what is going on.”
Jones said he was concerned these insurance issues affected the entire economy.
“The availability and affordability of insurance is not only affecting people in immediate harm’s way,” he said. “It’s also affecting economic growth and development in the town.”
Climate change will also make these disasters more frequent.
“The one-in-100-year event is now several times in a five-year period, so we’ve got to ensure that we’re taking these things into account,” Jones said.
Cut through the noise of federal politics with news, views and expert analysis. Subscribers can sign up to our weekly Inside Politics newsletter here.