Insurance companies have case to answer

OCTOBER 23, 2017: I AM calling on insurance companies and their representative body, the Insurance Council of Australia, to travel to the Whitsundays to explain their poor treatment of residents still struggling to finalise fair repair deals in the wake of Cyclone Debbie. I made the call during a speech in Parliament today, and if it means sending a Category 5 cyclone through the insurance industry then they'd better strap in for a bumpy ride because North Queenslanders are sick of copping it in the neck with premiums and then copping the rough end of the pineapple after a disaster.Cyclone Debbie hit in March this year, and at the time, individual insurers and the Insurance Council of Australia assured me they would honour every claim without dragging out the process. More than six months on, there are hundreds, if not thousands of insurance claims still not settled.Meanwhile, people are living in damaged homes and going to work in damaged work places.And then, when they get back to their damaged home, they are spending hours on the phone, arguing with building assessors, engineers, and insurance companies who are putting forward undercooked scopes of works that don’t come close to covering the costs of necessary repairs.Some of the examples of poor treatment I am hearing about are appalling.My office is currently dealing with up to 60 cases where home and business owners had been dealt a double blow.I hope to hold the meeting within the next month.