Most Australians won’t be covered by insurance if a mouse plague causes their house to burn down.
Rebekah Ward and her young family were left homeless last week after their Gwabegar property, in north-west New South Wales, burst into flames when rodents chewed through electrical wiring in the roof.
The threat of house fires could increase as mouse numbers multipled across New South Wales, after recent rainfall boosted crop yields.
Like some freak natural disasters, insurance companies generally don’t have policies specifically related to mouse plagues, amid fears they were coming in droves to Sydney.
Most Australians wont’ be covered by insurance if a mouse plague causes their house to burn down. Pictured is a family house at Gwabegar that caught fire after rodents chewed through electrical wiring in the roof
Financial comparison group Finder found only three insurers had home and contents products that covered rodent damage that caused a fire or liquid to escape.
Australia Post, Domain Insure, and ANZ are the only ones.
Finder finance expert Taylor Blackburn said insurers regarded rodents as a danger that could be averted.
‘Insurers generally see rodents as a preventable problem related to home upkeep – in other words, it’s your responsibility, not theirs,’ he said.
A quarter or 26 per cent of home insurance customers didn’t even know if they policy specifically covered mouse plague damage, a Finder survey of 582 home insurance customers found.
Rebekah Ward and her young family were left homeless last week after their Gwabegar property, in north-west New South Wales, burst into flames, after rodents chewed through electrical wiring in the roof
A significant proportion, or 42 per cent, of Australians don’t have home and contents insurance.
NSW Deputy Premier John Barilaro announced on Friday that residents and farmers would be able to claim a $1,000 rebate, backdated to February 1, for poison baits to kill mice.
The rebate is available to households and small businesses in the Central Tablelands, Central West, Northern Tablelands, North West, Western, Riverina and Murray regions, and along with some council areas in the Hunter and the South Coast.
Those affected by the mouse plague can claim a rebate by uploading receipts to the Service NSW website or by at a Service NSW centre.
As for Ms Ward, neighbours and emergency workers tried desperately to douse the blaze as burning rodents jumped from the roof to escape, but it was too late – the family were left with nothing but the clothes on their backs.
The threat of house fires could increase as mouse numbers multiple across New South Wales, after recent rainfall boost crop yields. Financial comparison group Finder found only three insurers had home and contents products that covered rodent damage that causes a fire or liquid to escape. Australia Post, Domain Insure, and ANZ are the only ones. Pictured are dead mice at Coonabarabran in the NSW north-west
The mouse plague ravaging much of rural NSW is predicted to reach Sydney by August.
The pests have multiplied in their millions.
The CSIRO, or Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, has created a map showing the plague stretching for more than 1,000km from southeast Queensland to the NSW-Victoria border.
The online platform, Mouse Alert, shows a swath of red circles indicating a high number of rodents.
The east coast of Australia has been inundated by the unwanted visitors this autumn with cooler weather and high crop yields creating perfect conditions for the pests to thrive,
The CSIRO, or Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, has created a map showing the plague stretching for more than 1,000km from southeast Queensland to the NSW-Victoria border