Prepared and Insured - Or Not

With all due respect to those who have died and lost their houses there are two type of people who will be feeling fairly hard done after the bushfires. Those who were prepared and those who had insurance.

Those in the first category spent the time clearing fire breaks around their houses, soaking the ground and their buildings and generally thought about fire safety. They ignored those who scoffed and for the most part their houses were saved, even for some who had left ahead of the fire.

The next category paid the additional 40% levy imposed by the Victoria Government to protect their livelihood if heaven forbid a fire came through and destroyed everything. About half rolled the dice and decided not to bother, or they could not afford it.

If your house burns down in the city or in a small bush fire you can expect very little in the way of help or sympathy. If you are not prepared or insured what you need is a decent sized fire so that the country, local governments, celebrities and others will send you donations, food, clothing and try to guilt the government to cover your uninsured house.

From a psychological viewpoint this might make sense from a social viewpoint it is a disaster. It says that you don't have to worry about anything because Uncle will pick up the tab and make it all better. It also means that less people will worry about insurance or protecting themselves or their assets.

This is wrong on so many levels that it is not even worth spending the time to write the words.