was quoted $60,000 for his home and contents insurance earlier this year<\/a>, when four years ago he paid $7,000.<\/p>\n![\"a](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/c22079678dfb1bca965d3d22ee5085fc.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
Home insurance quotes have risen by up to 500 per cent for south-west Queensland residents. (ABC Southern Qld: Dan McCray)<\/p>\n
Others are being forced to choose between their mortgage repayments and their insurance.<\/p>\n
Balonne Shire Mayor Samantha O’Toole said she was grateful Mr Littleproud had taken action.<\/p>\n
“There is a complete frustration that south-west councils feel over a very long period of time and just the inability to get any movement from insurance companies,” Cr O’Toole said.<\/p>\n
![\"woman](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/8d197341fd41cafcd75a29ee23de077b.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
Samantha O’Toole has compiled dozens of stories about insurance premiums spiking. (ABC Southern Qld: Grace Nakamura)<\/p>\n
Earlier this year, the Southwest Queensland Regional Organisation of Councils (SWROC), made up of the Balonne, Paroo, Bulloo, Maranoa, and Quilpie shires, created a community mutual fund to bypass major insurers altogether.<\/p>\n
Cr O’Toole, who is also the chairperson of SWROC, said the organisation had engaged a risk analyst to conduct a feasibility study on the idea and was looking to build a business case.<\/p>\n
“I’ve literally been contacted by over 60 councils across the country that are being impacted by a similar thing,” she said.<\/p>\n
“That’s why I believe our federal government needs to weigh in because it’s a national issue.”<\/p>\n
An ACCC spokesperson confirmed receipt of Mr Littleproud’s complaint but said they would not comment on “reports or complaints received or potential investigations”.<\/p>\n
Insurance council welcomes oversight<\/p>\n
Representatives from insurers and the Insurance Council of Australia (ICA) visited St George in April for a roundtable discussion with mayors from the region.<\/p>\n
An ICA spokesperson said insurers were working closely with the Queensland Reconstruction Authority and local councils on “practical solutions to reduce insurance costs for residents in southern and western Queensland”.<\/p>\n
Last week, the spokesperson said insurers welcomed oversight by the ACCC and said the regulator had found through “numerous studies that insurer pricing reflects risk and cost”.<\/p>\n
“Extreme weather, increasing asset values, and a 40 per cent rise in building material costs since 2022 have put pressure on insurance affordability across the country,” the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n
“This can be exacerbated in the regions where greater transport costs and scarcer availability of labour can add to the cost of repairs and rebuilds.”<\/p>\n
Struggle for first home buyers<\/p>\n
For some young people in south-west Queensland, it is not the deposit that is the financial hurdle to entering the housing market, but rather the insurance.<\/p>\n
Mr Littleproud said it was keeping people from buying property in regional Queensland.<\/p>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/0436ab190c081ed42aa1d99ed91db380.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
High insurance premiums are making it difficult for first home buyers to get into the market in south-west Queensland. (ABC News: Glenn Mullane)<\/p>\n
“You’re seeing young people who want to get a mortgage but they can’t because the insurance premium’s higher than the mortgage payment,” he said.<\/p>\n
Cr O’Toole agreed.<\/p>\n
“Once they add their insurance premium, the banks are saying, ‘Look, I don’t think you can afford this loan,'” she said.<\/p>\n
The Balonne Shire is surveying its residents to see how much insurance premiums are impacting their household budgets.<\/p>\n
Initial results found that a third of respondents could not get insurance or afford the premiums.<\/p>\n
The survey also found 95 per cent of people who responded had received an excessive home ownership premium in recent years, while 67 per cent of people could only get a lower insurance premium if they changed providers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A federal MP in regional Queensland is calling for an investigation into insurance companies’ conduct in the bush,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":743234,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[11275,64,63,358021,99,66974,358022,52883,358019,62784,358020],"class_list":["post-743233","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-accc","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-balonne-shire","tag-business","tag-david-littleproud","tag-ica","tag-insurance-premiums","tag-insurers","tag-premiums","tag-southwest-queensland"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/743233","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=743233"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/743233\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/743234"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=743233"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=743233"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=743233"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}