Form Section Structure
 
 

Sign the petition for fair and affordable insurance

As the climate crisis worsens, the insurance market is failing to fairly and affordably cover people and their homes. This is forcing people to pay higher premiums, reduce their cover, or abandon insurance entirely. 

 

Call on governments to make a plan for fairer home insurance that covers the risks of extreme weather now.

Campaign Section Structure

 

 
 
 
 

Insurance in a climate crisis

Insurance is essential in helping people and communities recover and rebuild when disaster strikes. As climate change increases the frequency and severity of extreme weather events like bushfires, floods, storms and cyclones, nobody should be left without insurance or unsure if their home is covered. 

New CHOICE research has found that two in five home and contents policyholders have been impacted by an extreme weather event in the past five years, but the insurance market is failing to cover the risks of these events fairly and affordably. 

The impacts of extreme weather events on people and their communities are devastating – and only made worse without the safety net of insurance. Our research found that many people who have been through extreme weather events experience significant and ongoing emotional harm, with many reporting ongoing trauma and anxiety. Fixing the broken insurance market can’t wait until more people are harmed by being uninsured or underinsured. 

Preparation is key for withstanding disasters. That’s why governments urgently need to make a plan for simpler, fairer and more affordable insurance that can weather our changing climate.

Following the Black Summer bushfires, over 47,000 people called on major insurers to ditch confusing and unfair fire definitions. Together, we forced insurers across the market to improve their fire definitions. Now, we need to keep up the fight by calling on the government to make sure everyone is protected if disaster strikes. Sign the petition now.

The impact of extreme weather:

Michelle

Cyclone, WA

“I definitely read the fine print, but they still catch you out. Over the years, it’s become a bit simpler to understand the policy, but areas like fences, shade cloth, tools, are vague.

 

I’m the person who rings to confirm what’s in the policy. Insurance companies do not like to put things in writing.” 

Jane

Flood, NSW

"The house value has gone down massively - I’m stuck. I don’t have a house that’s saleable.

 

[Home and contents insurance] cost me $9,000 this year including flood insurance. I used some of the pay out for it but I’m not sure if I can afford it next year."

Read the report

 Weathering the Storm: Insurance in a changing climate

Download the report 

Read more about the report

The research, commissioned by CHOICE, Climate Council, Financial Counselling Australia, Financial Rights Legal Centre, and the Tenants’ Union of NSW, is based on a nationwide survey of home insurance policyholders, in-depth interviews with people affected by extreme weather events and interviews with key civil society groups.

This research revealed 5 key problems with the home and content insurance market:

1. Complex product design:

Home and contents policies are complex and difficult to compare across insurers, often leading to people being unintentionally underinsured. 

2. Unaffordable premiums:

In recent months, 87% of policyholders have seen their premiums rise. Insurance unaffordability is worse in disaster-prone areas, and many households on low incomes have been priced out of the insurance market completely.

3. Inaccessible information on natural hazard risk:

Finding information on the level of risk to your home is very difficult, and the information that is available is piecemeal and often inaccurate.

4. Actions by homeowners to mitigate risk are not being considered by insurers:

44% of policyholders would consider investing in measures to lower the cost of their premium but many insurers do not recognise these kinds of measures when pricing policies.

5. Housing in high-risk areas needs solutions beyond insurance:

When homes are no longer insurable or safe to live in, governments need to plan for other solutions, including relocation. 

We’re calling on the government to take the following steps to ensure people are protected from the risks associated with extreme weather events: 

- Make home and contents insurance simpler, fairer and more affordable by standardising definitions and requiring insurers to proactively warn customers about underinsurance.

- Conduct an independent review of the affordability of home insurance – now and into the future. 

- Trial subsidising home insurance for people on low incomes who can’t afford to insure their properties and possessions.

- Provide funding to help people on low incomes to make their homes more resilient, and amend residential tenancy laws so landlords make rented properties more resilient to climate risks.

- Create a database that provides easily understood, publicly available information on current and future climate risks to people's homes.

- Adopt a national approach to planning for relocation of communities at high risk of natural disasters. 

The report outlines 14 recommendations to make sure people can access fair and affordable home and contents insurance – all 14 recommendations can be found in the full report.

Learn More Campaign Anchor

Learn more

Error Modal Container
Scripts Block