Bob Baldwin (Paterson, Liberal Party, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for the Environment) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Today I rise to provide some bouquets and some brickbats. We all remember the storm event that occurred in Dungog on 21 April. We lost lives, people's homes were lost and properties were damaged. I give a bouquet to Brigadier Darren Naumann, who did a tremendous job as the state government delegate to take over the recovery operations. He worked with the council, the state government and the federal government to deliver real outcomes. There were a plethora of insurance claims that came through, and on 1 July, when the Prime Minister and I visited the affected people in the Dungog region, some expressed concerns about the reluctance and recalcitrance of insurance companies.

Through the engagement of my office with people from NRMA, I can say that, in every claim that we have raised with the NRMA where there has been questionability, the NRMA has supported those claims and deemed them to be from the effects of storm. Sadly, Allianz have done everything they can do to avoid paying claims. What Allianz have done is to shop around for reports that say it is a flooding event rather than a storm event, just to get out of paying insurance claims. I say to Allianz—and we have repeatedly made representations to them on behalf of my constituents—you are very quick to take the dollars from my constituents for their insurance; you need to be equally quick in settling claims in a fair and reasonable manner. Shopping around for reports—sending numbers of inspectors in until you get the report that you want—does not cut the mustard. I will continue to name and shame and to point out exact street addresses and what you did—the insurance policy amount that you took and how you have failed to live up to your obligations as an insurer. As I say, you have been quick to take the dollars but very, very slow to pay out the dollars. Get a heart or continue to suffer the pain of being named and shamed in this place as nothing more than charlatans who take my constituents' money and then refuse to pay the claims on the day that you should. It is just not acceptable.

The problem has been compounded by the New South Wales department of fair trading from 16 September 2009, when they took away the licensing requirement for home inspectors to be licensed. It means that anyone with what is deemed to be a qualification can provide these reports to insurance companies that they are using to get out of paying claims. It is not acceptable.