00:00Michael Davies loves living in Upper Brookfield, in the hills west of Brisbane, but two years
00:08ago he watched on nervously as heavy rain caused rampant flooding across his suburb.
00:16His house was safe, perched on a ridge well above the floodwater, but despite not making
00:21a claim, his insurance premium tripled to almost $9,000.
00:27It's pretty scary and on the verge of chaos, isn't it?
00:30A carpet cleaner by trade, many of his clients face similar problems.
00:35They're sort of forced to make decisions that probably goes against what they really want,
00:37you know, which leads them to be under-insured and then that creates all sorts of stress
00:41in a family, doesn't it?
00:43It's something being felt across the country.
00:46There are 13 flood-affected communities in the eastern states already considered to be
00:51uninsurable, while a further 15 locations are considered a high risk of becoming uninsurable.
00:57We're seeing flood cover where insurance premiums of $10,000, $20,000, even $30,000.
01:03But it's not just floods.
01:05When the Grampians bushfire threatened Hall's Gap last month, Asip Mameshi evacuated, closing
01:10the doors of his hotel, knowing if it burnt down, he wasn't covered by his $55,000 policy.
01:16I've got no insurance for fire, no flood insurance, so it's really, really basic cover for us.
01:22It's only a small, we're only a little country pub.
01:25Community lawyer Dennis Nelthorpe says in a cost-of-living crisis, many regional residents
01:29simply can't afford insurance.
01:32There are deep-seated problems within the Australian insurance market and the industry
01:39is opposed to government intervention.
01:43Australia's household insurance system is based around individuals negotiating cover
01:48with insurance companies.
01:50Experts say this leads to a power imbalance and high premiums.
01:54They've called on the government to intervene.
01:56There really needs to be essentially a national plan of what we're going to do about these
02:01properties because this is not a small number.
02:03This is one in ten properties.
02:05Michael Davies faces some tough decisions this year.
02:08So we'll probably drop the flood cover in our situation.
02:12Unfortunately I think that's what the problem is, people are going to be forced to sort
02:16of deal with the consequences.
02:17Rolling the dice whenever it rains.
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