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The vice chairman of the Spatial Industries Business Association (SIBA), the Hon Gary Nairn, has called on the Insurance Council of Australia (ICA) to work with the industry that understands what is needed to address deficiencies in flood mapping data.

 

“I note the ICA has been talking about the Federal Government needing to invest in mapping to provide it, the ICA, with better data for insurance purposes,” Gary Nairn said.

 

“SIBA members have been trying to get insurance companies focused for many years on such data not only for floods but also other natural disasters like bush fires.

 

“But the insurance industry has been slow to pick up on just how powerful spatial information can be for analysing insurance risks,” he explained.

 

“However we agree that there is an urgent need for the Australian Digital Elevation Model (AusDEM), which is what we suspect the ICA meant when its chief executive, Rob Whelan, recently referred to digital terrain mapping.

 

“Our industry certainly finds the public debate on this important piece of infrastructure overdue but also somewhat frustrating given our industry has been lobbying for such infrastructure for many years. It is a great pity it has taken a major disaster to focus people’s minds.

 

“In fact, a number of industry submissions to the Federal Government’s Infrastructure Australia (IA) in 2009 by SIBA and an industry-wide project as part of the Australian Spatial Consortium both calling for investment in exactly this infrastructure was found by IA ‘not to fit its criteria for infrastructure’,” Gary Nairn lamented.

 

“But better late than never and we encourage the Federal Government to revisit their interpretation of infrastructure with SIBA ready to assist to ensure all industries and users benefit from better spatial information such as AusDEM,” he concluded.

 

Gary Nairn said SIBA would be writing to the ICA strongly advising it to seek further advice on mapping and spatial information matters from the association and its members.