The Hansen Herald

Insurer and motoring group RACQ has urged regional Queensland drivers to name and shame the region’s worst roads as part of its Red Spot Congestion Survey.
Queensland drivers have already pinpointed more than 2,300 across the state, but RACQ said it also wanted to hear from under-represented regional areas like Toowoomba, Bundaberg, Rockhampton, and Cairns.
“This survey isn’t just focused on Brisbane, if there’s a road, set of traffic lights, bottleneck, or level crossing that’s driving you mad we want to know about it,” said Lauren Ritchie, club spokesperson. “So far, 47% of the red spots nominated are intersections and 38% are sections of road.”
It is particularly critical for motorists to have their say as local and state government elections loom, Ritchie said.
“These results will be used to lobby leaders for funding and improvements to ensure motorists are being heard and action is being committed,” Ritchie said. “Last year’s survey helped us identify 450 of the state’s most congested roads and we have seen several roads receive funding commitments towards upgrades. The faster we can fix congestion hot spots, the more time motorists can spend with family, friends, and doing things they love.”
Visit the RACQ website to complete the survey. The survey will be closed on March, 03.

One of the topics that feature regularly on this blog is cyber security. It is such an important issue that it could be a daily topic in itself. Before I move on to the key issue around the danger that electronic signatures pose, I mention a couple of interesting articles I read recently.
First while the Ashley Madison cyber breach happened several years ago now, it has resurfaced with hackers writing to subscribers to the service stating that they will disclose details of their activities on the dating site with the persons spouse and friends. Several suicides have followed while others are paying the circa $1,200 payment requested. The trouble with this is when does it stop. If you pay once, how often will they come back to the well and will the amount asked for increase.
The second one is that the details of 30,000,000 credit cards is currently being offered for sale on the net.by Joker's Stash. The good news for us is that most of the customers were American but 1,000,000 were non US based clients. The breach occured at WAWA.
With all the legislation, potential penalties, litigation and brand damage this sort of thing can create, you have to question why any business would keep non essential personal information such as copies of drivers licences, and credit card details on file.
If you have not read the yet read the decision in the matter of Bendigo and Adelaide Bank Limited v Pickard [2019] SASC 123 points out the dangers of electronic signatures prepared by Cooper Grace Ward and published in Lexisnexis on 28 January 2020.
It has become increasingly common for documents to be signed electronically. This can be a very convenient way of signing and storing documents.
However, there are more and more cases where electronic signatures are being challenged, and documents being considered unenforceable as a result.
The issues are well demonstrated in a recent case of Bendigo and Adelaide Bank Limited v Pickard [2019] SASC 123.
The facts
The Pickards, through a family trust, subscribed for interests in Great Southern Group investments, and borrowed through Bendigo and Adelaide Bank.
The Pickards were required to guarantee the borrowings.
The loan agreement and guarantee were signed on behalf of the Pickards and their family trust by Great Southern Finance Pty Ltd under a power of attorney.
The directors of Great Southern Finance Pty Ltd signed the loan agreement and the guarantee electronically. The evidence was that the company’s practice for document signing was that administrative staff, not the directors, physically affixed the signatures. The directors could not prove they authorised the administrative staff to physically affix the signatures on their behalf.
The decision
The Court decided that, as the directors of Great Southern Finance Pty Ltd could not prove they had authorised the signatures to be placed on the documents, they had not been properly signed, and therefore the guarantees could not be enforced against the Pickards.
The importance of systems and records
This case illustrates the risks with electronic signatures, and the importance of having systems in place to prove the person actually authorised the signing of the document electronically.
If important documents are being signed electronically, then records should be kept to show that the people signing were the ones who affixed the signatures, or the documents might be unenforceable and ineffective.
If contract risk was not a minefield already! Hopefully this will help protect you.

By Sybilla Gross and Emily Cadman
It took two years for Nigel Allison to build his mud-brick house on a sleepy southeastern tip of Australia, and just hours for it to be gutted by fire.
The cherished three-bedroom home built in 1986 was one of several dwellings razed in Mallacoota on New Year’s Eve. Bushfires engulfed the coastal town, forcing a naval ship to rescue hundreds of stranded residents and holidaymakers. Across the country, more than 3,000 homes have been damaged or destroyed in the months-long calamity.
Now, residents from Sydney’s forested urban fringe and country towns like Mallacoota are confronting the reality of what it takes to live safely in the world’s driest inhabited continent in an era of climate change.
“As a society, we need to start accepting there are some costs involved if we want to ensure that our houses have a better chance of surviving a bushfire,” said Chris Wyborn, general manager of education and bushfire services with the Melbourne-based Fire Protection Association Australia.
More than five million people in Australia live in areas at high-to-extreme risk of bushfires or severe weather events like cyclones, according to SGS Economics and Planning Pty. The number of people in fire-prone areas increased by 111,000 in Victoria state alone in the decade through 2018, the Melbourne-based research group said in a report last month.
Climate change will inevitably increase the number at risk. Last year was the hottest and driest on record, according to Australia’s weather agency, creating tinderbox conditions that enabled fires to blacken an area about the size of England.
‘Incredibly Risky’
“Many of these communities are incredibly risky,” according to Alan March, a professor of urban planning at the University of Melbourne. “We need to start asking, ‘Well, we feel a deep compassion for the people who have lost their homes, but should they rebuild?’ This is not a yes or no answer.”
Allison, a 62-year-old retired school teacher, and his partner Liz Girvan estimate that rebuilding their dream home overlooking the ocean will probably cost AU$100,000 ($69,000) ... for the windows alone.
“The window cost is going to be astronomical,” Allison said over the phone from the town, where he and Girvan have been offered temporary accommodation from a neighbour.
That’s not deterring them, though. He said an “emotional attachment” to the 1,000-strong community makes them determined to rebuild.
The cost is high because planning and building rules have tightened in recent years, requiring more fire-resistant materials. Only about 5% of houses in bushfire-prone areas are new, according to Fire Protection Association’s Wyborn.
That means many of those looking to rebuild burned homes may find they are under-insured for the cost of meeting the new standards, said Ian Weir, an architect who specialises in the area.
Australia grades bushfire risk levels from low to “flame zone,” with the cost of building in the most dangerous areas increasing by “an order of magnitude,” said Weir.
Ember Attack
Homes need to be fortified to commercial-level standards of resilience to withstand the worst threats. Shutters designed to block embers, for example, may cost AU$1,000 a square metre, Weir said.
They are an important defence since windows can shatter under extreme heat, providing entry points for flying embers that are the principal cause of as much as 85% of homes destroyed in bushfires, according to the Fire Protection Association.
In less hazardous areas, building a basic home that meets fire standards doesn’t necessarily mean large additional costs, Weir said. However, in risky areas construction can become “prohibitively expensive” when lifestyle-features like verandas and decks are added because of the need to use non-combustible materials for structural elements, such as steel, and cladding that’s three times the price of the conventional equivalent, Weir said.
For those under- or uninsured, the cost of rebuilding will be a burden for poorer rural communities, according to Andrew Beer, a regional housing and infrastructure professor at the University of South Australia. The impact on household finances will be “devastating,” he said.
Some of these people will be forced to relocate to cities, while others will remain unprotected. Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews pledged to waive as much as AU$55,000 in taxes for fire-affected residents who elect to buy a home in a new area.
Climate Resilience
Prime Minister Scott Morrison acknowledged last week that the nation must become more resilient to climate change, and proposed a review of the government’s response to the bushfire crisis. Morrison, a staunch supporter of the coal industry, didn’t make any firm commitment to reducing the country’s emissions.
The Australian and state governments pledged more than AU$3 billion this month to fire relief and recovery efforts.
Expenditure on mitigation measures such as land-use planning, hazard-reduction fires, protective infrastructure and building innovation is equivalent to only 3% of that spent in response to the disasters, according to Terry Rawnsley, principal and partner with SGS Economics and Planning.
“Successive governments have over-invested in post-disaster reconstruction and under-invested in mitigation, which would limit the impact of natural disasters,” Rawnsley said. “As a general rule, one dollar spent on mitigation can save at least two dollars in recovery costs.”
For Mallacoota resident Allison, that means rebuilding his home on a more costly but less risky spot at the front of his block, further from a potential bushfire, “making pretty sure that it’s not going to burn down again.”
“We love Mallacoota,” Allison said. “It is a special place that has a special beauty.”
--With assistance from Matthew Burgess.
Copryight Bloomberg News

The National Insurance Brokers Association of Australia (NIBA) has warned bushfire-impacted homeowners and businesses against unlicensed and unregulated “claims advisers” seeking to take advantage of the ongoing crisis.
The message follows similar warnings from the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) and the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA).
NIBA CEO Dallas Booth urged bushfire victims to take advantage of NIBA’s bushfire community support initiative, to get claims advice and assistance from qualified insurance brokers, free of charge, Mirage News reported.
“The intention of this initiative is to support members of the community who have suffered loss as a result of the recent fires, who do not currently have an insurance broker and who need assistance with their insurance claim,” Booth said.
Those who have suffered loss as a result of the recent fires and need help with their insurance claim are urged to call their insurance broker if they have not already done so.

The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) has allied with the world's top intelligence agencies to wage a war against the growing cyber threat on the country’s financial infrastructure, with banks identified as one of its four priorities for 2020.
Read more: Changes to cyber models imperative to take on "silent cyber" risks – report
APRA chairman Wayne Byres said the prudential regulator is working closely with the Australian Signals Directorate (ASD), the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation, and their international peers to combat cyberattacks.
“Institutions get attacked all the time. Every day, every minute. The larger organisations are getting attacked continuously," Byres told the Australian Financial Review. “There is an active adversary that you are battling against and it’s very much international in nature and so our approach needs to be collaborative and working closely in partnership with other government agencies and international agencies.”
The alliance between APRA and the Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC), a division of the ASD that includes ASIO, the Federal Police, and Defence, further strengthened with the implementation of a new set of standards six months ago which includes mandatory breach reporting, AFR said.
“Thus far, there hasn’t been an attack here that has created a material risk or severely threatened the viability of an organisation, but this is an area that is rapidly evolving. We can’t be complacent,” Byres said. “Inevitably, there are breaches but thus far they haven’t been of a nature that has been particularly problematic or threatened the operation of institutions.”
APRA’s decision to focus on cyber risks already sees the regulator working closely with members of the Financial Council of Regulators including the Reserve Bank to protect infrastructure vital to the Australian economy, AFR said.

An Uber driver whose insurer knocked back a claim because he hadn’t told them he was working for the rideshare company has had his complaint rejected by the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA).
The man lodged a claim with Auto & General after his vehicle was involved in a collision on June 1 last year.
But it became apparent during the claims process that he had started as an Uber driver a couple of months before the accident, shortly after he had purchased the policy.
Auto & General says if the man had advised them of this change of use, it would have cancelled the policy and not been on risk at the time of the loss. It therefore declined the claim.
The driver said he was not working for Uber at the time of the collision and he did not know he had to inform the insurer about any changes of use.
He said he only speaks limited English, and the failure to update his insurer was an honest mistake.
However, AFCA found in the insurer’s favour. “The insurer was entitled to decline the claim and is not required to take any further action,” it says.

Last week it was reported that a jewelry store in Melbourne's CBD was robbed of over a million dollars worth of opals. The report went on to say that the owners elected not to insure at last renewal due to the increasing cost of insurance. What ever the premium was, with the benefit of hindsight would be significantly less than the financial loss they now have to overcome.
What staggered me was that apparently the valuable jewelry was not in a safe but in display cases out of normal business hours. For someone as risk averse as me I cannot get my head around the lack of what I would call reasonable care. It is perhaps why the insurance was high. I do not know. If I were the underwriter I would insist the stock of a high end jewelry store be locked in a quality safe at night.
It is not like jewelry stores in Melbourne have not been the target of quiet vicious robberies of late. I was approached to provide risk management advice to the Victorian jewelers association by an insurance broker while LMI attended to quite a few of the claims.
Now with the bush fires and in North Queensland we are seeing many people not have insurance due to increases in premium that are way out of step with inflation but in reality in many cases, not all more in line with the financial risk being transferred to an insurer.
While the study is a little old now, the Quantum research conducted in 2013 found that 83 per cent of those surveyed in Australia believed they would be worse off in the event of a crisis because their insurance would leave them significantly out of pocket. I believe this situation has got worse not better since then, despite all the media coverage on natural disasters. Certainly the increasing cost of insurance is a factor along with the proportional increase in taxes on insurance, particularly in NSW.
If you simply cannot afford the full cost of insurance rather than go without completely discuss with your insurance broker options such as discarding types of insurance you can afford to carry the risk yourself. For example glass insurance or electronic equipment. But keep your public liability, your fire and please your business interruption coverage.
Taking a higher policy deductible may and should bring down the premium. That way you carry some of the risk yourself but not all. You chose the level you feel you can fund if the worst happens.
Another example is car insurance. If you cannot afford comprehensive motor insurance, look to alternatives such as third party property damage which would protect you if you were deemed at fault. You do not want to run up the back of a prestige car for example.
What I do not advocate is to find the cheapest nastiest cover and hope for the best. It is a complete waste of time and creates even more stress if you find the policy you have does not cover the loss or disruption as expected or you have to drag the insurer kicking and screaming to the courts years later to get any payment at all.
Yet another area to fully understand with commercial insurance is there are penalties for being under insured. This can be devastating to a business. Yesterday, I was working on a claim where the loss is over $1 million but due to under insurance the amount claimable is going to be between $100,000 and $200,000. This leaves a huge uninsured loss for the organisation and its owner to bear.
Clearly making yourself as attractive an insured as possible to a quality insurer is more important than ever. Look at what you can do to improve the risk you are asking the insurer to take on.
Some examples are:
Do not make claims for small losses. Keep your claims history as clean as you can. Keep insurance for the biggie that could be life changing for you, your family and or business.
Look at the building materials you use in any future building works, renovations etc. EPS is clearly on insurers radar and for very good reason.
Look at the protection you have in place. Fire, burglary, malicious damage etc.
Do you have a fully documented and exercised business continuity management plan?
As mentioned above, your insurance broker can assist while LMI can assist with risk management and business continuity management planning.

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Insurance giant Suncorp has warned Australians to take car security seriously, prompted by a spike in vehicle thefts during the summer months.
Suncorp research revealed 60% of car thefts happened while a car is parked at home and that 20% of all car-related crime occurred throughout December and January, as a result of people being more relaxed and complacent over the Christmas and New Year period.
“The significant increase in car related claims during this time of year means car owners need to remain vigilant and keep their cars safe and secure from opportunistic thieves,” said Ashleigh Paterson, Suncorp spokesperson.
Suncorp said a number of people leave their cars unlocked or their windows down because they're parked on their property assuming it will be safe. This makes these cars easy target for the opportunistic thieves who check for unsecured cars.
“Similarly, it can be tempting to leave windows on cars and homes open in warmer weather, which can become an easy target for burglars looking for vulnerable homes they can easily enter to take car keys from night stands, handbags, and key hooks,” Paterson said.
Suncorp dished out some tips to prevent car thefts and break ins.
“It’s about making vehicles less vulnerable and less appealing to opportunistic thieves by removing any temptation,” Paterson said. “When shopping, hide valuables like coins and cash, music devices, phones, handbags, luggage or shopping from full view. Place what you can’t take with you under seats and in car boots to keep them from view.
“When leaving your car unattended, park in high foot traffic areas to deter opportunistic thieves. When parking anywhere unsecured overnight, park it in a well-lit area. Similarly, if you’re leaving your car at home while travelling, it needs to be secured. Park the car on your property, lock the doors, wind up the windows, set the alarm, use a steering wheel lock and take the keys with you to help ensure it will still be there when you return. Furthermore, if you’re going away, it’s a good idea to ask a neighbour or friend to keep an eye on your property and clear your mailbox while you’re gone.”