SOUTHERLYInsurance
1300 767 843Get a quote
Sydney Harbour at first light from a sandstone headland, calm silver water under a wide gradient sky

About us

Named after the wind that brings the change.

A southerly buster comes up the New South Wales coast on a hot afternoon and drops the temperature fifteen degrees in ten minutes. Everyone on this coast knows the word. It seemed like the right name for a business that exists because of the weather.

Started in 2009, by people who had spent a decade declining claims they thought should have been paid.

Four of us left a large insurer in 2009 for the same reason. The product was fine. The wording was fine. What was not fine was a claims process built to slow people down at the exact moment they had the least capacity to push back, and a pricing model that quietly punished loyalty.

So Southerly was built the other way around. The claims process was designed first and the products were written to fit it. The assessor rings the customer rather than posting a status update to a portal. Make safe happens before anyone talks about quotes. And the renewal price is calculated from risk, not from how long you have stopped shopping.

We are based in Millers Point, a few hundred metres from where the first cargo insurance in this country was written, and we underwrite in every state and territory. We are not the cheapest insurer in Australia and we do not try to be. We try to be the one that is straightforward on the day something goes wrong.

94.1%

of claims accepted

Rolling 12 months to June

5.2 days

median time to assessment

Property claims, all states

$186m

paid in claims last year

Across all product lines

31,400

policies in force

Households and businesses

Four things we decided not to do.

Every one of these makes us slightly less money. All four were arguments internally and all four are the reason people stay.

  • We do not sell flood back to you.

    Flood is included as standard on every home, contents and landlord policy. Removing it is a choice you make for a lower premium, not an upgrade you buy.

  • We do not use a teaser first year.

    The renewal price is built from the same rating factors as the new business price. If your premium moves, something in your risk moved, and the renewal notice says what.

  • We do not make you get three quotes.

    We appoint the assessor and the repairer. Make safe never waits on quotes, and you can always use your own repairer if you would rather.

  • We do not hide the excess.

    Every excess that could apply is on the certificate of insurance in a single table, not spread across a schedule and three endorsements.

Colleagues around a table with laptops and notebooks in a bright meeting room

Who decides things

  • Ilona Brzezinski

    Chief Underwriting Officer

    Twenty-two years pricing catastrophe risk, most of it on the east coast. Rebuilt our flood model on the 2022 Northern Rivers data.

  • Warrick Delahunty

    Head of Claims

    Ran the field response through Black Summer. Holds the view that the assessor should ring the customer, not the other way around.

  • Nadia Sarkis

    Chief Customer Officer

    Came from consumer advocacy. Rewrote every one of our PDS documents to the point where a person can find their excess in under a minute.

  • Hamish Toomey

    Head of Distribution

    Broker side for fifteen years before this. Argues, correctly, that most under-insurance starts with a sum insured nobody revisited.

Claims we settled, and where.

Reviews by state

The hail came through the skylight on a Tuesday. Make safe was on site the next morning and the assessor rang me himself, not a call centre.

Bec KalinowskiCoogee NSW 2034

Product
Home and Contents
Outcome
Settled at $41,800
Timing
Assessed in 4 days

Southerly Insurance Australia Pty Ltd ABN 42 619 084 573, AFSL 419 268. We are bound by the General Insurance Code of Practice, which is monitored and enforced by the Code Governance Committee. This advice is general only and does not take into account your objectives, financial situation or needs. Before acting on it, consider whether it is appropriate for you.

Two minutes, and you will know what it costs.

No phone call, no broker appointment, no obligation. Answer eight questions and we will show you the premium, the excess and the exclusions on one screen.

Get a quote1300 767 843

Consider the PDS and TMD before deciding. Premiums include GST and stamp duty.