Insurer sees a decrease in NW home premiums

An insurer of homes in the Pilbara and Kimberley regions has reported a reduction in the cost of premiums in the past year.

The 24 per cent reduction in SGIO's home insurance premiums came to light after the Federal Government announced the establishment of a task force to investigate insurance affordability in northern Australia.

A SGIO spokeswoman said prior to the Government's announcement last month, the insurer had identified affordability in cyclone-prone areas as an issue that needed to be addressed.

She said insurance affordability in northern WA and other cyclone-prone areas across Australia was a major priority for the company, and it had been investigating a number of methods to reduce costs.

"We've been working hard on methods which we can use to help reduce premiums in cyclone-prone areas, including undertaking a strata resilience project (in north Queensland) to help us price insurance with a higher level of accuracy," she said.

"This project showed that by implementing pre-disaster mitigation measures, we can significantly reduce the insurance premiums for strata customers over the short term.

"In order to reduce premiums over the long term, we need to invest in pre-disaster mitigation measures, adopt sensible planning laws and start the removal of insurance taxes."

Member for Durack Melissa Price, also a member of the Northern Australia Joint Select Committee, said the committee found the cost of insurance may be detrimental to growth.

"Improving affordability will address concerns around under insurance, will ease cost-of-living pressures for families and will support the economic development of northern Australia," she said.

The task force findings are expected to be returned by October.