I am not sure why someone who owns a house would not have...

I am not sure why someone who owns a house would not have flood/fire/storm insurance ... perhaps if they want to have a tax, have compusory 'disaster insurance' (or whatever you want to call it) ... make it premium appropriate ie: $1m home on the ocean ... pays appropriate premium compared to $350K home on a farm. The general insurance premiums would then be less (just home and contents etc ... when disasters happen - no bleating about people having / not having insurance ... and as far as I see there is abit of fat in the insurance game ... so Government makes some money for other infrastructure projects damaged in these disasters. If you own a valuable asset like a house and don't have insurance - then I think this is a problem. If you can't get insurance - then this is another debate & I truly feel sorry for these persons & assist. This is going to be an ongoing problem ...floods, cyclones, fires .... man why did we not spent the GFC plasma & grog payments on something like this that could benefit the country forever !! Floods in Qld have been horrible, but the Vict bushfires were just as bad on a different level ... that only seems like yesterday. cheers Ian H.