Neil Dufty, Molino Stewart Pty LtdAndrew Dyer, IAGMaryam Golnaraghi(lead investigator of the flood risk management report seriesand coordinating author),The Geneva AssociationFlood Risk Managementin AustraliaBuilding flood resilience in a changing climate The Geneva AssociationThe Geneva Association was created in 1973 and is the only global association of insurance companies; ourmembers are insurance and reinsurance Chief Executive Officers (CEOs). Based on rigorous research conducted incollaboration with our members, academic institutions and multilateral organisations, our mission is to identifyand investigate key trends that are likely to shape or impact the insurance industry in the future, highlighting whatis at stake for the industry; develop recommendations for the industry and for policymakers; provide a platform toour members, policymakers, academics, multilateral and non-governmental organisations to discuss these trendsand recommendations; reach out to global opinion leaders and influential organisations to highlight the positivecontributions of insurance to better understanding risks and to building resilient and prosperous economies andsocieties, and thus a more sustainable world.Published by The Geneva Association—International Association for the Study of Insurance Economics, Zurich.Cover page—Markus Gebauer/ Shutterstock.comThe Geneva Association—International Association for the Study of Insurance EconomicsTalstrasse 70, CH-8001 ZurichEmail: secretariat@genevaassociation.org | Tel: +41 44 200 49 00 | Fax: +41 44 200 49 99 2www.genevaassociation.orgDecember 2020Flood Risk Management in Australia© The Geneva AssociationPhoto credits: Contents1.Executive summary2.Introduction3.Flood risk in Australia3.1.Population growth and development patterns3.2.Climate change4.Evolution of flood risk management in Australia4.1.Major floods as drivers of flood risk management in Australia4.2.Institutional roles and responsibilities4.3.Legislative actions5.Components of flood risk management in Australia5.1.Flood risk information, communication and awareness5.2.Flood alerts and early warnings5.3.Emergency preparedness measures5.4.Risk reduction measures5.5.Property-level protection measures5.6.Prevention through development planning and land use5.7.Disaster risk financing measures for government5.8.Flood insurance and other risk transfer solutions in Australia5.9.Reconstruction approaches6.Towards an all-of-society approach to flood risk management6.1.Cross-governmental collaboration6.2.Cross-sectoral collaboration7.Conclusions: Successes, continued challenges and lessons learnedReferencesAnnexesAnnex 1: Overarching questions used for mapping and analysing the evolutionof flood risk managementAnnex 2: Framework for assessing flood risk management systems 3Flood Risk Management in Australia232626282828293232353636373839404142424244465053 4www.genevaassociation.orgAcknowledgementsWe are grateful to Munich Re's NatCatSERVICE for providing critical data for thisproject and would like to extend our special thanks to Petra Löw, and Sabine Schlüter-Mayr (Munich Re) for supporting us in this process. We also would like to extend ourdeepest thanks to Insurance Australia Group (IAG) for providing the financial supportand engagement of Andrew Dyer and Mark Leplastrier (IAG) that have enabled thedevelopment of this report. The Geneva Association Flood Project Advisory Teamprovided valuable insights for the overall design of the project, including Shiraj Khan(Formerly of AIG), Wolfgang Kron (Munich Re, retired), Leigh Wolfrom (Organizationfor Economic Cooperation and Development – OECD), Darius Pissulla (HannoverRe), Cameron Rye (Formerly of SCOR), Michael Szoenyi (Zurich Insurance Company),Mandy Dennison (Intact Financial), Masaaki Nagamura (Tokio Marine), Jacki Johnson(IAG), Alan Milroy (AXA XL), Iain Hamilton (Aviva) and Xiaoting Hu (Tokio MarineTechnologies). We extend our deepest gratitude to the following Australian experts:Joel Hankinson, Steven Molino (Molino Stewart Pty Ltd), Ian Dinham (FloodplainManagement Australia), Karl Sullivan (Insurance Council of Australia), Angela Toniatoand Duncan McLuckie, who participated in the discussions and/or the review of thisreport. We would like to thank all members of The Geneva Association Working Groupon Climate Change and Emerging Environmental Topics for their support, with partic-ular thanks to Jennifer Waldner, Anthony Zobl, Mohammad Javanbarg (AIG); Mario DiMarco (Tokio Marine HCC); Junaid Seria, Guillaume Ominetti, Maurizio Savina (SCOR);Lutz Wilhelmy (Swiss Re) and Kei Kato (Tokio Marine & Nichido Fire Insurance Co) fortheir review and feedback. Finally, we thank Kai-Uwe Schanz and Christophe Courbage(The Geneva Association) for their comments.The Australian co-authors also wish to acknowledge the people of the Darug, Eora andNgunnawal nations as the traditional custodians of the land on which they live and work. As the world responds to the COVID-19 crisis,