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.

Built by people who had spent a decade declining claims they thought should have been paid.

Four of us left a large insurer 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 work from Pyrmont, across the water 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.

24 hours

to arrange make safe

Emergency work, no quotes needed first

21 days

cooling-off period

A full refund if you have not claimed

Flood

included as standard

On home, contents and landlord

to take a dispute to AFCA

External complaints cost you nothing

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
Prices catastrophe risk, which on this continent means hail, flood and fire in that order. Holds that a flood model is only as honest as the year it was last rebuilt.
Warrick Delahunty
Head of Claims
Runs the field response through the season. Holds the view that the assessor should ring the customer, not the other way around.
Nadia Sarkis
Chief Customer Officer
Came from consumer advocacy. Rewrites every PDS to the point where a person can find their own excess in under a minute.
Hamish Toomey
Head of Distribution
Broker side before this. Argues, correctly, that most under-insurance starts with a sum insured nobody revisited.

Eight soundings, across the country.

Eight soundings, one per state and territory.

Not customers and not outcomes. Eight worked examples of the shape a claim takes here, and the clause that answers it.

1 of 8

NSW · Eastern-suburbs semi
Hail through a skylight
Hail is the single largest cause of home claims in this country. The building damage, the water that follows it through the opening, and the contents underneath are all one claim with one excess, not three.
Product
Home and Contents
Clause
Storm, rainwater and hail
How it runs
Make safe within 24 hours, then a scope of works
Illustration only. Not a customer, not a settlement.
VIC · Inner-north terrace
Tenant damage and rent arrears
A standard home and contents policy declines both halves of this. The reason a landlord policy exists is that deliberate damage by a tenant and rent lost when they abscond are the two things a home wording will not answer.
Product
Landlord
Clause
Malicious damage plus loss of rent on default
How it runs
One claim, two sections, one excess
Illustration only. Not a customer, not a settlement.
QLD · Suburban high street
Floodwater through a shopfront
Business interruption carries a time excess rather than a dollar one, and it is settled slowly because it needs trading figures. Stock and fit-out do not, so those are paid first and the rest follows.
Product
Business
Clause
Property, stock, and business interruption
How it runs
Interim payment on stock while interruption is assessed
Illustration only. Not a customer, not a settlement.
WA · Port suburb
Written off at eighteen months
Market value and new car replacement are different promises. Inside the replacement window the wording pays for the same car again; outside it, it pays what the car was worth the moment before the accident.
Product
Motor
Clause
New car replacement inside three years
How it runs
Replacement, not market value
Illustration only. Not a customer, not a settlement.
SA · Beachside bungalow
Burst pipe under a slab
The pipe itself is usually excluded as wear. The damage the water does, and the cost of breaking in to find it, are not. That distinction is the whole clause.
Product
Home and Contents
Clause
Escape of liquid, including locating the leak
How it runs
Leak detection paid as part of the claim
Illustration only. Not a customer, not a settlement.
TAS · Hillside weatherboard
Gum tree across the roof
Getting the tree off the roof is covered. Getting the rest of it out of the yard is not, unless it is blocking access. Wordings differ on this more than any other clause.
Product
Home and Contents
Clause
Impact by falling trees and branches
How it runs
Removal of the tree only where it caused the damage
Illustration only. Not a customer, not a settlement.
ACT · Inner north
Hospital admission overseas
Australia has reciprocal health care agreements with eleven countries. They cover immediately necessary treatment. They do not cover getting you home, and getting you home is the expensive part.
Product
Travel
Clause
Unlimited overseas medical and evacuation
How it runs
Direct billing to the hospital, not a reimbursement
Illustration only. Not a customer, not a settlement.
NT · Coastal suburb
Cyclone damage to roof and ceiling
When the Insurance Council declares a catastrophe, quotes stop being required before make safe and cancellations for non-payment are held for twelve months.
Product
Home and Contents
Clause
Storm and cyclone, rated separately north of Capricorn
How it runs
Catastrophe response: we call you, you do not chase us
Illustration only. Not a customer, not a settlement.

Southerly Insurance Australia Pty Ltd is a fictional company invented for this demonstration. No ABN, ACN or AFSL number is shown anywhere on this site, because a made-up number in ASIC's real format could belong to a genuine licensee. A licensed insurer would be bound by the General Insurance Code of Practice, which is monitored and enforced by the Code Governance Committee. The Code is real; this insurer is not. 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 where the line sits.

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 quote (02) 5550 1100

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

Named after the wind that brings the change.

Built by people who had spent a decade declining claims they thought should have been paid.

Four things we decided not to do.

We do not sell flood back to you.

We do not use a teaser first year.

We do not make you get three quotes.

We do not hide the excess.

Who decides things

Ilona Brzezinski

Warrick Delahunty

Nadia Sarkis

Hamish Toomey

Eight soundings, across the country.

Eight soundings, one per state and territory.

Hail through a skylight

Tenant damage and rent arrears

Floodwater through a shopfront

Written off at eighteen months

Burst pipe under a slab

Gum tree across the roof

Hospital admission overseas

Cyclone damage to roof and ceiling

Two minutes, and you will know where the line sits.

The waterline

Identity

Sounding box