Victorian caravan park owners Julie and David Siacci are seriously concerned their livelihood could be wiped out by a bushfire this summer – like many others, they are operating without insurance amid a dramatic rise in premiums.
Southern Cross Caravan Park at Lakes Entrance has 25 caravans and cabins, but the only insurance the Siaccis have is compulsory public liability cover.
Both are approaching retirement age and rebuilding would be out of the question in the event of a disaster.
A natural disaster would put Julie and David Siacci out of business for good.(Facebook)
“Right now I have to live with the fact that if a bushfire comes through, that’s it – I’m done,” Ms Siacci said.
Victorian Caravan Parks Association president David Pratt said premiums for businesses like the Siaccis’ had increased by up to 300 per cent nationally.
Eight months after the 2022-23 Victorian floods, a north-west Victorian businessman whose park was flooded is opting to self-insure as the peak tourist season approaches.
‘Insanely expensive’
Apex RiverBeach Holiday Park owner Colin Stuart said his insurance had more than doubled in the past 12 months.
He said he was fortunate to be able to keep cash on hand to pay out in the event of a disaster, rather than paying an insurance company for cover.
“It’s insanely expensive, so it’s not viable,” said Mr Stuart.
“It’s interesting because we just went through a flood, and we know the exact cost of moving everything out of the park and putting everything back in, and it was 50 per cent less than the insurance premium.”
Mr Stuart said the 2022-23 flood crisis cost the company more than $100,000.
He was concerned about smaller businesses that would not have access to that kind of money in a time of crisis.
12,000 homes at risk
Mr Pratt said the caravan park industry had been struggling with reduced insurance capacity since 2019.
He said the insurance market had reached a crisis point, with many providers across the country finding it impossible to obtain property and liability cover.
Mr Pratt said that in many cases, premiums were equivalent to around 20 per cent of the operator’s turnover.
“This puts a lot of parks under immense financial pressure to even get property and liability cover,” he said.
“What makes it even more difficult is that more than 12,000 people in Victoria live in caravan parks, and 85 per cent of them live mainly in regional Victorian caravan parks.
‘Don’t want to play’
Mr Pratt said the sky-high premiums were largely the result of international insurance companies pulling out of the Australian market because the risk was deemed too high.
“Internationally, they’re all just taking a position – whether it’s from Europe or America or Canada – that they just don’t want to play in Australia anymore,” Mr Pratt said.
Some companies are turning to unauthorised foreign insurers, which Mr Pratt says could have dire consequences.
The Victorian Caravan Parks Association is calling on the Federal Government to intervene by engaging with insurers and participating in the reinsurance market.
