Aussies battered by $3.5 billion blow
Moderated by Tomas Kauer 
New data has revealed hail, floods and storms cost Australia $3.5 billion in insured losses last year.
Figures from the Insurance Council of Australia showed five weather events were declared "significant or catastrophic" in 2025.
These included the February floods in North Queensland, ex-tropical cyclone Alfred in March, the NSW Mid North Coast floods in May, and two severe storm events in October and November in Queensland and NSW.
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Alfred, which hit the Gold Coast and south-east Queensland on March 8, was the most expensive of them, even though it had weakened to a tropical low and lost its cyclone status by the time it made landfall.
The Insurance Council said 132,000 claims with a collective value of more than $1.5 billion were lodged in Alfred's wake.
Severe hailstorms in October and November, affecting Queensland and NSW, racked up a similar collective damage bill of $1.4 billion with more than 105,000 claims.
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Insurers expect the overall damage bill will grow as claims from more local severe events are added.
But the cost is already huge compared to 2024, when the insurance bill from extreme weather came to $581 million - itself down from $2.35 billion in 2023.
The council said this demonstrated "the unpredictable nature of extreme weather".
