Cade Lucas
Monday, October 14 marked the second anniversary of the 2022 Maribyrnong River floods which devastated suburbs throughout the inner-north west, including Footscray, Maidstone, Kensington and Maribyrnong.
For many whose homes were inundated two years ago, the anniversary didn’t mark an event in the past, but one that’s ongoing, only now it’s insurance companies they’re battling rather than flood waters.
This was made clear by a report tabled last week from the federal parliamentary inquiry set up to investigate the response of insurance companies to the 2022 floods.
Its findings were damning.
The poor treatment of customers and mishandling of claims were systemic problems within the insurance industry and two years on from the floods, 338 building claims were still unresolved.
Among those left in limbo is 76-year-old Angelina de Simone, who is still unable to use the ground floor of her Maribyrnong home after it was inundated by flood waters.
“Down stairs it was up the roof,” she said of the height of the water level reached.
“We had to dismantle all of the cabinets, all the doors, they were coming apart, they smelt of mould. I still have no doors down stairs,” said Ms De Simone, who lives alone upstairs, but used the ground floor regularly.
“There was a kitchen, storage, laundry, toilet. I did a lot of stuff downstairs, making my own tomato sauce, bread, everything, but everything was destroyed.”
A protracted battle with her insurer over the cost of repairs, has meant damage caused by the floods has remained, even as many of her neighbours have had their damage fixed.
“It makes me feel like I don’t exist, like I’m not a human for them,” said Ms De Simone of how the response from her insurers made her feel.
She’s not alone.
At a flood inquiry public hearing in Maidstone in April, resident Allison Baumgart described her claim experience as an “ongoing nightmare”.
Chaired by Fraser MP, Dr Daniel Mulino, whose electorate encompasses much of the area affected by the Maribyrnong River floods, the inquiry also investigated the response of insurers to floods in Central Victoria and Tasmania that also occurred in October 2022.
The report identified problems related to inadequate staffing, poor communications with customers, long delays in claims handling, poor handling of complaints and claim denials based on inadequate supporting evidence or unreasonable applications of policy exclusions.
The inquiry heard that policyholders were left confused about the claims process, conflicting advice was given about post-flood clean-ups, neighbours received conflicting claim decisions, customers could not speak to someone about their claim and would go weeks and months without getting an update.
People with vulnerabilities were insufficiently recognised, and insurers often did not acknowledge or take responsibility for the poor behaviour.
Among the report’s 86 recommendations were that insurers continue to insure a damaged property while a claim or repairs are ongoing, and at a price that reflects the value of the damaged property.
Insurers should also pay for temporary accommodation until house repairs are completed and pay out a claim in full if they haven’t made a decision within 12 months.
The national peak body for the insurance industry, the Insurance Council of Australia (ICA), welcomed the report and offered support for its recommendations.
“Getting the balance right between good customer outcomes without putting further pressure on premiums will be key to successful implementation,” said ICA chief executive Andrew Hall.
Mr Hall said insurers had already apologised to those they had let down and that the ICA had already commissioned its own report into the flood response.
“Insurers acknowledge there were failures of systems, processes and resourcing in response to the extreme weather events that occurred during 2022, and the industry is already taking action to address these challenges.”
The full report can be found at: www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/House/Economics/FloodInsuranceInquiry/Report
