Our purpose in action

The people of Tathra on the New South Wales south coast were caught unaware when a bushfire swept through their beachside community on 23 March 2018.

The town is home to around 1,600 residents whose homes are perched on the hills that lead down to the seaside town and beach. The bushfire swept towards them so quickly that some evacuated leaving everything behind, others stayed to try and save their homes, while many headed for what they thought was the safety of the surf club at the beach, only to be ordered to evacuate by police as thick smoke, embers and flames drew closer.

Most of these people made their way to the evacuation centre at the nearby showground where our partners at the Australian Red Cross were ready to care for them.

The fire destroyed rows of houses at the top of the town. Closer to the water the damage was spread out, with the fire destroying one or clumps of two and three houses but leaving neighbours untouched.

Within a week, our Claims and Assessing team was on site to identify the scale of repairs and rebuilds required, in preparation for getting the all-clear to begin cleaning up properties.

We also sent our people to the Emergency Response Centre established in nearby Bega. This enabled us to help people lodge their claims at the same place they accessed government financial support, counselling, and the support of the Australian Red Cross.

We had 55 customers who lost their houses, and a total of 179 building and contents claims across all our brands. As at 1 August 2018, we had settled all the claims for lost houses and 79% of the remaining claims. Repairs for over half of the outstanding claims have been finalised, with the majority of those remaining now scheduled.