Fire aid flows freely
The Victorian bushfires, now 18 days distant, provide a chance to view insurance and financial relief in action.
Most banks and insurers responded efficiently to the crisis, deploying staff, systems and cash to relief centres, with many opening on-site early on the Monday after the Saturday firestorms. Other aid also flowed fast, both private aid (most steered through the Red Cross) and public sector (through the Australian and Victorian governments).
Building on precedents set in the Canberra, Victorian and Tasmanian bushfires of 2003 and 2006, banks established generous aid packages that are operating alongside many other sources of financial help.
Three big banks promised cash grants of $10,000 each. (Only Westpac/St George did not).
On top of immediate Centrelink aid there are cash grants, or block funding, covering site clean up and business income assistance from state and federal governments.
Funeral aid is $10,000 per person.
Red Cross collections exceed $150 million and are payable to around 2000 affected households and their communities.
That's $75,000 per affected household in Red Cross aid and around $20,000 to $30,000 in bank and government aid. Those with a home loan or business loan are eligible for the greatest aid.
This estimate excludes extensive public funding of rebuilding works regarded as public goods, and no doubt other aid besides.
Then there's insurance, where the payments are not aid but meeting liabilities. There's not much, if any, real cash aid from insurance companies to fire victims as opposed to payment under policies.
Private insurance will still be needed to adequately cover private rebuilding costs.
Drawing on data from the Insurance Council of Australia there were around 5500 insurance claims lodged as of a week ago, of which 1300 are for total loss of property
Insurer IAG said it received around 2600 claims, while CGU, a subsidiary business, said it received about 800 claims.
Suncorp put its estimate of the claims cost of the Victorian bushfires and also the floods in far North Queensland at $180 million, before reinsurance recoveries.