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Text message scams are on the rise and it's costing Australians thousands of dollars

8 February 2018 | penny
Phishing scams have surged in 2017 and scammers are often posing as trusted local brands, increasingly 
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Catastrophe Declared as Cyclone Debbie makes landfall

28 March 2017 | penny
The Insurance Council of Australia (ICA) has declared a catastrophe as Tropical Cyclone Debbie makes landfall between Bowen & Airlie Beach in North Queensland.
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Mildura hail losses climb past $100 million

23 November 2016 | walter
About 19,200 claims totalling $108 million have been lodged with insurers since the severe hailstorm that struck northwest Victoria’s Mildura region more than a week ago. The Insurance Council of Australia (ICA) has declared the storm a catastrophe. It also hit nearby parts of NSW and SA. An industry taskforce will address and identify issues and a disaster hotline has been activated for policyholder queries. ICA CEO Rob Whelan says farmers suffered significant losses.
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Study reveals scale of SME underinsurance

23 November 2016 | walter
Almost one in five SME owners believe their insurance would be unable to cover their income for a week after a catastrophic event, industry super fund REST says. About 23% say their cover would be exhausted within a month and 50% within six months, according to a white paper called Bridge the Gap. Sole traders appear more vulnerable, with 58% saying they have insufficient insurance to last a week.
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Heat extremes ‘to become normal’

17 November 2016 | walter
Extreme heatwaves such as those of 2013, when temperatures approached 50 degrees in some parts of Australia, could represent “just another average summer” by 2035. New research led by Sophie Lewis from the Australian National University’s Fenner School of Environment and Society shows if current carbon emission levels continue “extreme seasons will inevitably become the norm within decades”. “Australia is the canary in the coal mine that will experience this change first,” Dr Lewis said.
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Mitigation: new sums produce a familiar answer

17 November 2016 | walter
Insurers have for years been pleading with governments to protect the nation before a natural catastrophe event by mitigating the risks. Like mothers wanting to put a helmet on their daredevil toddlers, the insurance industry has been pleading for years for governments to plan. Dealing with disaster after it happens is a lot more expensive than mitigation. For example, Cyclone Yasi in 2011 cost the Queensland Government about $7 billion.
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Insurance benefits lost on many young travellers

27 October 2016 | walter
A survey has revealed a major gap in the travel insurance market, showing 8% of Australian adult travellers – 850,000 people – took their last overseas trip without cover. The study, commissioned by the Federal Government and the Insurance Council of Australia, identifies a large proportion of this group as aged 18-29 – many of them visiting Asia on “schoolies” trips. In this age group more than half mistakenly believe the Federal Government will pay for medical expenses and repatriation in an emergency.
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Bank commission reforms hit stumbling block

27 October 2016 | walter
The Australian Bankers Association’s (ABA) bid to reform staff sales commissions may miss next year’s implementation date. The latest independent governance review, by former auditor-general Ian McPhee, says data on product sales commissions has proved more extensive than expected. “Additional resources were put in place once the full data collection requirements became apparent, and this is why the delivery date for this milestone has not been revised at this stage,” the review says. “Program co-ordinators are closely monitoring developments on this front.”
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ACSC calls on business to report cyber threats

19 October 2016 | walter
The Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC) has urged private businesses to report threats, despite reluctance among some companies to involve the Government. “Reports help the ACSC develop a better understanding of the threat environment and will assist other organisations that are also at risk,” it says in its annual threat report. “Cyber-security incident reports are also used in aggregate for developing new defensive policies, procedures, techniques and training measures to help prevent future incidents.”
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Ocean trends suggest wet weather to continue

19 October 2016 | walter
Two climate drivers monitored by the Bureau of Meteorology suggest little change to the rainy weather pattern that delivered Australia’s wettest May-September on record. It says warmer than average Pacific Ocean sea surface temperatures to Australia’s north and east point to La Nina-like impacts such as higher rainfall, even if an event does not fully develop. Two of eight international climate models suggest brief, weak La Nina levels are possible towards the end of the year, while the remainder flag neutral levels to the end of summer.
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