​The Insurance Council of Australia (ICA) has provided new data in their submission to the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Economics' inquiry into insurers' responses to 2022 major flood claims. The ICA stated that 229,455 properties have a 5% flood annual exceedance probability (AEP), otherwise known as a 1-in-20 year flood risk.

ICA CEO Andrew Hall said: "The ICA is committed to working with all stakeholders to improve the way the insurance industry responds to floods, and we welcome the opportunity to make a submission to the House Economics Committee," continuing to say "our data analysis also shows that damage from flood is wildly disproportionate to the number of properties known to be exposed to flood risk, so by targeting mitigation efforts to those most affected we can relieve the burden on us all."

Further highlights from the submission:

The submission noted more than half of the above properties (123,475) with a 5% AEP flood are located in New South Wales.

It was found that over 674,000 properties in Australia face a 1% (1-in-100), 2% (1-in-50) or 5% (1-in-20) AEP.

The ICA has again called for further investment by governments at all levels to protect homes and communities from the impacts of extreme weather events. With Mr. Hall saying "Governments must amend land use planning legislation to include a mandatory requirement for planning approvals to consider property and community resilience to extreme weather and improve building codes so future homes are made more resilient,".

The ICA is currently preparing a number of policy papers to examine the protection gap in Australia and the affordability of insurance in detail.