Insurance Council of Australia
Significant Events
When a Significant Event declaration occurs, the Insurance Council’s preliminary data collection and stakeholder engagement catastrophe processes are activated, assisting the ICA and insurers to better assess the insurance impact of a particular event.
A Significant Event may be escalated to an Insurance Catastrophe if there is a material increase in claim numbers or complexity, if the geographical spread of this event is extended or in consultation with insurers.
There have been four Significant Event declarations:
– SE 225: River Murray Floods
– SE 224: Central West NSW Floods
– SE 222: NSW Severe Weather
– SE 231: Newcastle hailstorm
SE 225: River Murray Floods
The Insurance Council retrospectively declared the River Murray Floods SE 225 in its 2023 annual Catastrophe Resilience Report. A declaration at this stage does not mean support has been absent until now, we have, in effect, been treating this event as a declared event in our engagement with government, community and other stakeholders to date, with two community forums hosted. Making a declaration at this stage reflects the unique characteristics of this event – a ‘blue sky’ flooding event. While this event had a relatively low number of claims, the severity is apparent when considering the very high average claim cost of $192,000 and an estimated 15 per cent of properties impacted determined to be total losses.
SE 231: Newcastle hailstorm
On 29 May 2023, the Insurance Council of Australia declared a Significant Event for the Hunter and Central Coast regions of New South Wales impacted by hailstorm on the afternoon of Friday 26 May.
SE 224: Central West NSW Floods
On 15 November 2022, the Insurance Council of Australia declared a Significant Event for parts of Central West NSW impacted by flooding since 12 November. The impact of flooding was felt most significantly in communities surrounding Central West NSW, in particular Cowra, Forbes, Condobolin, Eugowra and Molong.
SE 222: NSW Severe Weather
On 5 July 2022, the Insurance Council declared a Significant Event for regions of New South Wales impacted by severe storm and flooding. The impact of flooding was felt most significantly in communities surrounding the Hawkesbury and Nepean Rivers, however all regions impacted by flood in New South Wales since 1 July fell under the SE declaration.
* As at October 2023
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