Councils welcome commitment to reform insurance

Published on 19 February 2025

The peak body for Queensland councils has welcomed the Federal Opposition Leader’s election commitment to make insurance more affordable – and has called on the Federal Government to do the same.  

“Insurance is a critical cost of living issue that councils have been raising on behalf of their communities for a number of years,” Local Government Association of Queensland (LGAQ) Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Alison Smith said. 

“We have presented a suite of measures to make insurance more affordable and available for Queensland communities to all parties and candidates standing at the Federal election,” Ms Smith said. 

“Increasing the affordability and availability of insurance statewide – including for households, strata title holders and businesses is critical to our communities, no matter where they are in what is Australia’s most natural disaster-prone state.” 

Queensland councils want the next Federal Government to take action to reduce the skyrocketing costs of insurance in the community with greater transparency in the setting of premiums, taking into account resilience and natural hazard mitigation measures when setting insurance premiums; increase the affordability and availability of insurance statewide – including for households, strata title holders and businesses; and undertake a holistic review that makes changes to the Australian Cyclone Reinsurance Pool to extend the claims period for cyclone and flood related damage and expands the criteria. 

“We thank Peter Dutton for his commitment, and look forward to Labor also committing to measures to make insurance more available and affordable for Queensland communities,” Ms Smith said. 

As part of its Federal election campaign, the LGAQ has released a suite of measures that would deliver real, on the ground support for communities and their residents that would deliver a $73.8 billion dividend to the Queensland economy and more than 105,000 jobs. 

The LGAQ is asking all candidates in the 2025 Federal Election to put local communities first and enhance community liveability by committing to measures including: 

• Increasing untied funding to all councils to at least 1 per cent of Commonwealth taxation revenue, indexed annually and with payment timing certainty; 
• Establishing a new allocative, permanent funding program to build and maintain essential community infrastructure;
• Implementing a new tripartite agreement between all three levels of government that ends the cost shifting onto local governments;
• Reviewing opportunities to utilise existing heads of power to increase direct funding to councils;
• Supporting councils stepping in to provide childcare due to market failure through a dedicated, sustainable and allocative funding program;
• Reinstating the 80:20 infrastructure funding split, allowing councils to submit directly to Infrastructure Australia and implementing the remainder of the LGAQ recommendations to the Federal Inquiry into the Sustainability of the Local Government Sector;
• Addressing overcrowding and support economic development in remote and discrete communities with a new bilateral First Nations housing funding agreement with the Queensland Government;
• Increasing the affordability and availability of insurance statewide – including for households, strata title holders and businesses;
• Supporting communities impacted by the energy transition, through locally led solutions, direct funding and a local government voice on the Net Zero Economy Authority board;
• Extending funding for an ongoing, voluntary home buy-back program;
• Deleting the digital divide by prioritising investment into regional, rural and remote areas that are currently underserved by telecommunications providers; and
• Partnering with Queensland’s Reef councils to deliver the Reef Councils’ Rescue Plan’s five key initiatives: Climate Resilience and Risk, Cleaner Wastewater, Cleaner Stormwater, Cleaner Road Runoff and Healthy and Resilient Landscapes. 

Central to the LGAQ’s federal election advocacy is that it’s time to change the funding model to councils, so that communities are not stuck in the 1970s ... to learn more visit the LGAQ campaign website www.dontleaveusinthe70s.com.au. 
 
The full Federal Election platform can be found here.

For more information, please contact:

Dan Knowles, Media Advisor
Phone: 0432 681 664