Australia - Bird flu compensation leaves business interruption insurance gap
The spread of H5 bird flu to a third Australian state has focused industry attention on a structural feature of the country’s animal-disease risk model that matters to underwriters and brokers: government compensation for avian influenza reimburses culled birds but excludes the business-interruption losses that often exceed them, leaving a coverage gap that the private market fills only partially and, brokers say, on tightening terms.