Katter’s Australian Party candidate, Clynton Hawks, says the draft legislation of the federal government’s $10B reinsurance scheme falls short in providing northern Queensland residents any clue as to how it will really work to reduce premiums for residents.

KAP hopeful Hawks is gunning for the electorate of Herbert, which comprises most of Townsville, at the next federal election. Mr Hawks says he supports the concept of the reinsurance scheme, but is concerned the public is being kept in the dark about how it will make premiums
affordable for home and business-owners in northern Queensland.

“The draft of the legislation is open to public consultation for anyone to look at, but all we really have is government putting their hand over their heart and swearing that this document delivers what is being promised,” Mr Hawks said.

Mr Hawks says that for many residents in northern Queensland, the draft legislation already falls far short of what they’d hoped for.

For example, Northern Australian Insurance Lobby’s Margaret Shaw has condemned the draft legislation for leaving out a huge swath of property types in northern Queensland, including mixed use strata where commercial use is above the 20% threshold in buildings valued at more than $5 million.

Member for Kennedy Bob Katter has said he is “strongly backing Margaret Shaw from the Northern Australian Insurance Lobby (NAIL).”

“The insurance proposal, if correct, will have more exemption holes in it than actual benefits.”

“I have said to Government and in the public arena, repeatedly, that a series of very bad cyclones, a decade or so ago, stretching from Mackay/Whitsundays to Mareeba and Cairns, has taken out every house and old building that could be taken out.

“The buildings that are still standing have weathered Larry, one of the worst cyclones in Australia’s history. If they weren’t damaged by Larry, they certainly won’t be damaged by any future cyclone.

“The insurance companies insure you are not likely to ever require insurance but won’t insure you where you might require insurance which again, in neon lights, it demonstrates the fanatical, obsessive ideology driving government policy – the free market will solve it all for you.

“Well, the free market, thanks to the Townsville Chamber of Commerce, has resulted in 25 percent of the houses in NQ not being insured. They tend to be pensioners living in older homes and there is no way the government will be able to afford to provide alternative housing.

“And don’t let Brisbane squeal, because the insurance companies aren’t game to take on the southeast corner. They just escape their responsibilities in the north.

“North Queensland must realise that we need a different political approach. Unless we can get North Queensland people to vote for North Queensland, and abandon their political inertia, discrimination will metastasize like a Covid epidemic,” Mr Katter said.

The reinsurance pool scheme is set to start in July, with the draft legislation currently available for public consultation until December 17.