For an industry that has spent much of the past four years apologising before parliamentary committees, copping criticism over delayed flood claims and watching its public image deteriorate, something has shifted. Consumer confidence in insurance is on the rise and the Insurance Council of Australia (ICA) says it has the data to back it up.
"Insurance confidence has improved remarkably over the last two years," said ICA CEO Andrew Hall during a Financial Services Accountants Association (FSAA) webinar from Canberra last week. "We're in a better position than we've been in for a long time in terms of consumer faith and I think that comes down to the hard work and investment insurers have made to ensure their claims handling processes are surge-capable and quality-driven."
The ICA's assessment comes against a backdrop that remains genuinely difficult - home insurance under structural financial pressure, premiums rising sharply and an estimated 1.4 million Australian homes either uninsured or underinsured. Positive sentiment in that environment can be hard to win.
But, ironically perhaps, the mechanism driving the shift is the claims process itself. "Our biggest advocates are people who've had a claim," said Hall, "because most have had a great claims experience and truly understand the role we play."
A reputational low point for the industry came after the 2022 floods, the parliamentary inquiry, the cascade of mea culpas from IAG, Suncorp, Allianz and others - was fundamentally a claims story. Delays, denials, low-ball settlements and a lack of basic empathy toward policyholders at their most vulnerable dominated the coverage and the public conversation for the better part of two years.
The recovery, Hall argued, is also a claims story. Since 2022, significant investment has gone into surge capacity, faster triage, improved project management of complex claims and getting assessors on the ground earlier. The results are beginning to show in consumer sentiment research the ICA conducts independently of the more adversarial surveys that have tended to dominate headlines.
Hall offered another example. At a dinner in Canberra, Labor MP Lisa Chesters - whose Bendigo electorate was affected by fires earlier this year - told him that the first people on the ground in fire-affected areas were not state emergency services or federal agencies. They were insurers. "She was blown away by the level of support that came to the fore," Hall said.
For brokers, the shift in consumer sentiment is more than a feel-good story and could be a practical market signal. When claims experiences are positive, policyholders become advocates and advocates renew, refer and engage differently with their cover than customers who feel burned. In a market where affordability pressures are pushing some consumers to question whether insurance is worth having, genuine trust is a commercial asset.
Hall is measured about what the industry should expect in return. "Don't expect a ticker tape parade - just do your job really well and don't become the story," he said. "I'm quietly proud of the industry and the work it's doing. But I know that's not what makes the front page."
That self-awareness is itself a shift from an industry that has historically struggled to narrate its own value. The new General Insurance Code of Practice - expected to be released for public consultation within weeks - is designed to formalise that accountability, with contractual enforceability and ASIC approval among its core objectives. Hall is candid that consumers rarely know the code exists until something goes wrong but argues that excellent claims handling creates advocates more effectively than any marketing campaign ever could.
The reputational damage done by the 2022 floods was real, sustained and well-documented. The recovery - built on operational improvement rather than communications strategy - could be equally real. Whether the industry can sustain it through the next major catastrophe will be the true test.
For now, the needle has moved. In an industry more accustomed to defending itself than being praised, that is far from nothing.
