Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says his government is engaging with insurers as weather events such as this week’s NSW floods become more intense and costs rise.

“Insurance, of course, is a major issue and the costs of it are rising because the amount of damage being done by extreme weather events is increasing, so, we’re continuing to deal with the peak organisation, the Insurance Council,” he told ABC Radio in Newcastle.

“We’re continuing to make sure we do what we can [so] insurance claims are dealt with in an expeditious way. That’s very important, but, you know, this is an ongoing issue that we’re very conscious of.”

Mr Albanese said it is not easy to solve all insurance cost issues, which relate to claim numbers, and the government has engaged with individual companies and the Insurance Council of Australia.

“The science told us that those events would be more frequent and would be more intense, and that is placing pressure on the system,” he added at a briefing in Maitland.

Mr Albanese was asked in another interview – with ABC Radio Mid North Coast – about home relocations and how to better protect Australia’s east coast.

“We do need to have a very clear look at those issues,” he said. “We don’t want to have homes relocated if areas such as mitigation, flood levees and those issues can be dealt with as well. But in some cases, it simply isn’t going to be the case.”

ICA says insurers have received more than 1600 claims relating to this week’s floods and the industry will prioritise responses to the event.

CEO Andrew Hall said this morning that more claims will be received as people return to properties, and insurers will be contacting customers.

“We’ll be present in any recovery centres, so if people just want to come in and see someone face to face about their insurance claim, we’ll be there,” he said.

Mr Hall said discussions at local, state and federal government levels are needed to prevent flood impacts recurring, with some homes inundated three times in the past couple of years.

The local council in Taree, isolated by flooding this week, last year considered and rejected a levee that would have protected its CBD, he told ABC News Radio.

“I think we’ve got to break this cycle of poor decision-making and start being very serious in this country about flood defence,” he said.

Mr Hall says Australia has “left a whole cohort of people behind” who are living in dangerous flood areas, while many other countries have dealt with the problem.

“We just seem to just go in, we muck out, we do everything we need to do, the sun comes out, everyone feels good, and then we just get on with our lives,” he said.

“Kempsey, Taree, Coffs Harbour, Grafton – these are all very flood-prone communities, and we need to be doing much more to protect them.”  

Natural Hazards Research Australia CEO Andrew Gissing says the average frequency of the Manning River reaching peak flood level in Taree is once every 500 years.

“Though it is too early to know the extent that climate change has contributed to these extreme rainfalls, we do know that a warmer climate means the atmosphere holds more water, making heavy rain more likely,” he said.

The weather conditions affecting the Mid North Coast have cleared, with the offshore system moving south, but flood warnings remain across a large area.

The Bureau of Meteorology reported Lake Macquarie received 105mm of rain in the six hours to 2.30am and Richmond Airport received 211mm between 9am yesterday and 10am today. A severe weather warning was issued for north of Nowra to the Victorian border.