Insurers have paid out more than half of the $2.2 billion in bushfire insurance claims but are facing complaints of lengthy delays and under-insurance as the country continues to tally the enormous cost of summer's natural disasters.
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The insurance industry says it has delivered $1.4 billion in repairs, rebuilds, furniture, new cars, cash settlements and financial support to communities across south-east Australia still suffering the effects of the deadly blazes that ravaged large swathes of New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia and Queensland.
Insurance Council of Australia chief executive officer Rob Whelan laid out the scale of the financial toll at a parliamentary committee hearing on Tuesday.
Mr Whelan said that since last September 242,000 claims worth $4.6 billion had been made for damage and destruction caused to homes, vehicles, outbuildings, fences, livestock and other property by a succession of fires, flood, hail and other natural disasters.
"This was the worst natural disaster season on record," he said.
Despite the unprecedented scale of the disaster claims, which came in addition to what insurers would normally expect, Mr Whelan said industry's financial position remained sound, generating around $50 billion in gross premiums holding assets worth almost $130 billion.
"Insurers are fulfilling their promise," he told the House of Representatives Economic committee.
"They have made, and continue to make, strong progress in helping thousands of families and small businesses."
Despite the payouts made so far, many are reported to still be waiting for insurance settlements and the bushfire royal commission is due to hear concerns about widespread under-insurance.
In a submission to the royal commission, the Consumer Action Law Centre said it had received reports of significant delays in insurance assessments in regional areas, with some continuing to be housed in caravans or sleeping rough on their properties months after being losing their homes.
It said common problems included under-insurance, feeling pressured into accepting inadequate cash settlements and claims delays.
The Financial Rights Legal Centre said under-insurance was a chronic problem and urgent reform was needed.
"After six official insurance catastrophes in five months, decisive action by Australian governments to implement long-term policy reforms in home insurance is long overdue," chief executive officer Karen Cox said.
"The recent bushfire crisis may have been unprecedented, but the plight of many affected people who find themselves uninsured or under-insured is not," she said.
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"Every time we have a significant catastrophe, we discover that Australians have been left exposed to significant losses above and beyond their level of insurance."
Ms Cox said after extreme weather events taxpayers were regularly called on to "fill the gaps left by un-insurance and under-insurance", and called on the bushfire royal commission to examine the issue.