The Storm and What Came After

Bribie Island. One year on. 

The storm swept through Monday afternoon without asking permission. 

Building since the night before, intensifying as it moved north, by the time it crossed the Pumicestone Passage and smashed Sylvan Beach there was nothing to slow it down with the water giving it room to build – and it used all of it! 

Roofs were peeled away, trees toppled, cars crushed and boats torn from their moorings. The SES received more than 2000 calls, 11 schools were unable to open the next day so was the severity of the aftermath. 

The Insurance Council of Australia counted 16,000 claims before Tuesday declaring it a catastrophe for the damaging impact sustained throughout southeast Queensland.  That number climbing to more than 44,000 by the end of the week. The event ultimately generated 70,200 claims and $814 million in insured losses. 

The storm did not read the policy schedule before it arrived, it did not inspect the timber or ask how old the fence was. It came, pushed and destroyed. 

That was November 24, 2025 – what happened after is the story worth telling. 

The Island 

You need to know who lives here. 

The median age on Bribie Island is 63. Nearly half the population is over 65. The Queensland median is 37. People come here to stop. To be near the water. To live quietly after a long time of not living quietly. They built their homes in the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s, paying insurance premiums ever since because they know what it means to lose something and have nothing behind you. 

The houses, fences and roofs are not new. That is the Island - that is the point! 

On November 24 that became a problem. 

The words they used 

In the months after the storm the letters started arriving stating - not maintained - pre-existing deterioration - age of the structure - gradual damage over time. 

The same words - different houses, different streets - same storm, same insurers. 

New fences with no pre-existing maintenance issues, no age issues went down in the same streets. The only issue was the wind. When a new and an old fence are destroyed in the same storm on the same afternoon the wind is the variable - Not the age! 

A representative from one Insurance company came to the Island after the storm. He observed the damage, stating to a resident that the gusts at Sylvan Beach were the worst he had seen, conveying that the age of a structure would not matter against forces like that. 

Then someone at a desk wrote a letter declining the claim. 

The elderly do not push back easily. They do not always know they can. They accept what the letter says because the letter came from the insurer and the insurer knows these things. Some of them are still waiting. Some of them gave up. 

What you need to know 

The policy is a long document. The headline says storm damage covered. What is underneath the headline is where claims are won and lost. Before the next season comes here is what matters. 

Read the exclusions. Gradual damage. Lack of maintenance. Retaining walls. These are the doors insurers go through. Know where they are before the storm. 

Ask who assessed the claim. The insurer's assessor is paid by the insurer - that is not an independent expert. Get your own quote - submit it. It carries equal weight. 

Know that AFCA exists. The Australian Financial Complaints Authority reviews insurance decisions and costs nothing. The insurer must comply with the outcome. Many people on this Island did not know this. Now you do! 

Ask the right questions before you sign. Not just the premium. Ask what pre-existing condition means and who decides. Ask who assesses claims and whether you can challenge that. Ask what happens when the storm comes. The answers will tell you more about an insurer than any headline ever will. 

One year on 

Insurance was invented because people understood that no one should face catastrophe alone. Not the merchant whose ship went down, nor the farmer whose crop burned. Not the woman on a fixed income on an Island in Queensland whose fence came down in a storm the Insurance Council called a catastrophe before the week was out. 

Bribie Island paid its premiums. The storm came. The claims went in. 

What came back, in too many cases, was a letter with words about age and maintenance and pre-existing conditions. Words written by someone who was not here on that devasting Monday afternoon when the Pumicestone Passage gave the wind room to build and the wind used all of it. 

The system of accountability exists. AFCA exists. The right to dispute exists. The duty of utmost good faith that every insurer owes every policyholder exists. Use them. 

Another storm season is coming. The Island is the same Island. The people are the same people. The insurers are the same insurers. 

The storm of November 24 did not ask how old the structures were. 

The insurance system should not have used it as the answer.