“And it seems like they’re saying that really no one’s doing a good job of managing it or predicting it or getting ready for it, whether that be government, council, individuals, businesses, insurance companies – everyone’s to blame.
“We ask a question [about] who’s responsible for taking action on this, and quite rightly, they think everyone is.
“We all have a role to play, government, councils, businesses, insurers like ourselves, and no, they rate us pretty badly, actually.”
Davies says most of all, people think it’s the Government that needs to set the direction for the country.
IAG released a report earlier in June that identifies 42 ways for the Government to address gaps in the system, including preventing construction in risky areas, coming up with a plan for managed retreat and ensuring local councils are sufficiently funded to invest in risk reduction.
“What we’re looking for is a much more coherent plan around how we’re going to manage these risks. We have an approach to managing risks that’s too reactive.
“We want something much, much more proactive, and we want to see a really clear plan about how we’re going to get there.
“So, we too are looking to the Government to show a greater commitment to reducing risk in this country.”
The climate change poll states: “New Zealand is fast approaching a fork in the road.
“One path leads to better managed risks, a more insurable future and greater economic resilience. The other does not. New Zealanders sense we are veering towards this second path and want change.”
Among the poll’s findings:
61% say the Government should prioritise reducing climate risks to help bring down insurance costs.Around 80% support limiting development in high-risk areas.71% say more should be done to protect existing buildings and infrastructure, including greater investment by local councils in protective infrastructure (80%) and natural defences like wetlands (78%).
While the climate risk rises, so too do insurance premiums for many.
Some 80% of poll respondents said home and contents insurance is becoming less affordable, with 50% worrying they may no longer be able to afford their insurance.
Bryce Davies, executive manager of corporate relations at IAG.
Davies said insurance companies are committed to playing their part.
“What we hear is that when the risk goes down, our customers expect us to reduce our premium. That’s the role that they want us to play.
“Rather than being the investor up front, they want us to kind of hand back the benefit of the investment to them as a reduced premium.”
But for some people, insurers are walking away.
AA Insurance has stopped issuing new home insurance policies in places like Westport because of flood risk, and Woodend in North Canterbury because of seismic risk.
“Insurance is pretty much widely available in most locations. If it’s not, it’s pretty obvious why, you know, the waves are literally in the lounge.
“But we know that that’s going to change. Our perils are going to get worse, and low-lying houses and river valleys or on floodplains or by the coast, we think about those communities a lot, which is why we want a greater focus on risk reduction.”
He pointed out IAG wants to keep insuring people.
“That’s our business. That’s how we make our money.”
The poll found 61% of New Zealanders agree that insurers should raise premiums for homes and businesses that face more risk, while only 20% are prepared to pay more to subsidise the cost of insurance for people who live in high-risk locations.
IAG is moving aggressively towards “risk-based” pricing.
“As that rolls out, customers are seeing that if they’re in a high-risk location, their premiums are reflecting that risk, and for a lot of customers, their premium’s going down because they’re not living in a high-risk location,” Davies said.
Eighty-four per cent of respondents say insurers should work with central and local government to keep insurance available and affordable.
“There are no silver bullets to actually solving this problem. There’s a lot of things we need to do as a country.
“It’s about where we build, it’s about what we build, it’s about how we keep the things that we have built safe.”
The survey also showed widespread support for doing more to modify the environment to fit in with the impacts of climate hazards and requiring new buildings to meet higher resilience standards.
There was mixed support for forced relocations.
Forty-six per cent said local government should buy out property owners severely impacted by climate change due to flooding or inundation, while 63% said more should be done to force home and business owners to move away from high-risk locations.
When it comes to personal financial impacts, there’s an even split.
Thirty-three per cent say they are willing to accept their own property value being reduced if climate-hazard risks are not managed well.
However, the same percentage say they wouldn’t accept taking that financial hit.
Katie Bradford is a Senior Correspondent at the Herald. She has been a broadcast journalist for over 20 years and was based in the press gallery for 10 years. She specialises in politics, business and Auckland issues.