As Australia heads into another high-risk bushfire season, Allianz Australia Chief Technical Officer James Fitzpatrick has warned that climate change is moving faster than the insurance industry anticipated and that extreme weather events are increasing in both frequency and severity.

Speaking on The Business Of, he made a clear case for investing in resilience now, arguing that the cost of inaction will far exceed the cost of solutions.

That message should resonate strongly in New Zealand.

From Auckland Anniversary floods to Cyclone Gabrielle, we have already seen how exposed parts of our housing stock and infrastructure are. Insurance affordability is tightening. Risk based pricing is becoming more granular. In some areas, cover is harder to secure at any price.

Fitzpatrick pointed to innovation in building design and materials, particularly in high risk locations, as a practical way to reduce loss outcomes. Smarter construction, better land use decisions and targeted mitigation can materially shift the risk profile of a property over time. Insurers recalibrate after every event, and improved data can influence pricing in both directions.

For New Zealand, this goes well beyond one bad season. It raises fundamental questions about where we build, how we rebuild and whether we are factoring future climate scenarios into today’s decisions. Managed retreat, resilient design standards and long term infrastructure planning are no longer abstract policy debates. They are commercial realities.

For those of us operating across construction, valuation and insurance, the takeaway is straightforward. If we want sustainable insurance markets and genuine rebuild confidence, resilience has to be embedded in how we plan, design, cost and value property now, not after the next event.

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