The current situation with the fires in NSW shows the stupidity of imposing emergency services levies on General Insurance

I start by applauding the efforts of the fire fighters in New South Wales and Queensland including one of my brother-in-laws, a volunteer in the NSW Rural Fire Service.

Yesterday morning, one of the senior officials from NSW Fire advised that, due to the catastrophic conditions expected today (12 November 2019) it is not going to be possible for the brigade to assist with property fires and that the focus will be on preventing loss of life.

If you paid hundreds if not thousands of dollars in fire service levies with your farm or home insurance year on year you would have to be questioning the value.

I am not for one minute suggesting that we move the levy to life insurance as that would be as ridiculous as having it on general insurance.

As I have repeatedly stated, it is important for all of us to have a well funded, well equipped and well trained fire and emergency services. They are there to protect each and every one of us.

Therefore, all of us should fund this. Not just those that take out general insurance. The brigades will not know or care who has insurance, who is under insured and who has no insurance. They will be there for all.

As Ross Greenwood said on the Today Show. Four out of five homes are either not insured or under insured. Adding to the cost of insurance, as only New South Wales does to home insurance, does not help this appalling statistic.

Individuals, families, communities and the economy recover much quicker if they have the protection of quality insurance in their hour of need. It is quicker and better for all concerned than government handouts or donations.

If anything good comes out of these terrible fires, I hope that the NSW State Government appreciate the stupidity of their decision to reverse the removal of the Emergency Services Levy from General Insurance.

Help let people help themselves.

As a last point, when was the last time you really looked at the adequacy of your insurance program? Please do not wait till it is too late.