The Insurance Council of Australia says federal government spending on climate resilience is “failing to keep up” with rising risks, but it has not revealed its position on short-term options to help high-risk homeowners, such as flood reinsurance pools.

In a detailed pre-budget submission, ICA lists 11 key recommendations and repeats its call for a $30 billion flood defence fund. It also calls for the abolition of insurance taxes and reviews of tort law and regulation.

In previous interviews CEO Andrew Hall has acknowledged that a “partnership” between industry and government is needed to address spiralling home premiums, and Financial Services Minister Daniel Mulino has examined pooling mechanisms in other countries.

“While there is no silver bullet, the federal government has options available to alleviate premium pressure for the highest-risk households in the short term, while making longer-term investments in large-scale infrastructure and risk mitigation projects that protect communities and prevent or reduce the damage caused by extreme weather,” ICA says in its submission.

But there is no recommendation from ICA on which of these short-term options the government should pursue.

“Despite a significant uplift since 2022, investment in adaptation infrastructure that would reduce future losses is failing to keep up with the size of the escalating risk,” ICA said today.

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