The New South Wales (NSW) thinking deeply on Natural Disasters Fund

The New South Wales (NSW) government is considering a natural disaster fund to protect the state budget from worsening storm, flood and fire events.

This follows last week's storms which are expected to cost hundreds of millions of dollars, mostly in repairs to roads which are uninsured, reported the Sydney Morning Herald.
Ausgrid estimates it has cost A$15 million (US$11.7 million) to roll out 500 kilometres of cable, 300 kilometres of service wire and 20 tonnes of cross arms on electricity poles in recent days to replace damaged infrastructure. The full bill to NSW is certain to exceed the A$95 million set aside for natural disasters in 2014-15.
More than A$2 billion has been spent responding to natural disasters in NSW in the past decade, with costs tripling in the past six years. Contributing to rising costs was population growth in coastal regions with high exposure to flooding and fire.
NSW Premier Mike Baird last year proposed a standalone fund for natural disasters, to reduce the unexpected impact on budget. The concept is being considered.

The Insurance Council of Australia said that insurers had received 24,250 claims by 10am last Thursday from people and businesses affected by storm and flood damage. Insurance losses were estimated at A$161 million.
Mr Rob Whelan, ICA CEO, said: “Most of the claims received are for home and contents, mainly for light damage caused by rain and wind, with a small number of motor vehicle and commercial claims. These are early figures for this catastrophe, and insurers are standing by for many more claims to be lodged over the next few days.
“Thousands of households remain without power and it’s understandable they’re not immediately calling their insurer.”
Mr Baird, who visited affected areas after the storm, said: “When I looked at what I just saw I was in shock, to be honest, in terms of the size and scale of what we are confronting here.
“There is no doubt going to be a very big bill, and it is undoubtedly going to be in the hundreds of millions of dollars.”

Source: eDaily