162 N Osbaldiston
premiums. Insurers claim this is the result of the large reinsurance 3 pool
required now in the tropics due to increased risk and danger (ACCC 2019).
Despite these claims by insurers, interviewees were not always convinced
and expressed anger at what they perceived to be corporate greed. William,
a middle-aged male homeowner from the Northern Beaches, gets quite
animated when talking about insurance. He argues that insurers ‘get away
with’ what he calls ‘price gouging.’ In past conversations with his chosen
insurer, he relays to me that he was advised that insurance premiums are
high due to recent weather events. He responds,
I’m like horse shit, they can price gouge. The insurance industry I think
has taken (a hit) when Brisbane got washed out […] And they’ve got to
recoup it from somewhere. Now my feeling is that they don’t spread the
love, so they hit the people that it affects more than other people.
William’s feelings are not distinct from other participants who accuse the
insurance sector of being almost psychopathic in their approach to the
insured. One male renter in his mid-twenties from the Northern Beaches,
Fredrick (see later), suggests that insurers are ‘crooks’ and labels them as
nothing more than profiteers.
This dim feeling towards insurers is built, as I have argued, through the
stories of others that are delivered either in person or through the media.
They contribute to participants expressing resignation, dismay, distrust,
and even anger. In these cases, emotional reflexivity has already happened.
However, in a few interviews, participants exhibited emotional reflexivity as
the interview progressed.
Here, the interview process appears to have contributed to them questioning their own insurance policies and associated emotional responses. As an
example, Cass, a retired woman and homeowner from Trinity Beach, suggests that before the interview began, she took out her policies and ‘started
reading it’ only to discover ‘there’s all these exclusions and stuff.’ The actual
interview itself caused her to wonder ‘what will happen if I actually need it
(insurance)?’ She proceeds when asked ‘why are you paying for it?’
Yes exactly, exactly. I suppose you’d get a little bit but I never expect
anything from insurance companies and that’s why I’m saying now I’m
probably going to cancel my (she pauses)…
It is at this moment that Cass appears guided by her emotions as she reflects
on what she was deciding to do. Specifically, she is guided by a fear of victimisation from home break-ins that she has experienced as she suggests that
‘I need my home/contents if anything happens because if you get burgled,
and that happened to me a few times […] and I didn’t have insurance.’ Her
emotions of those past events cause her to reflect in the moment and alter
her decision. She continues,
premiums. Insurers claim this is the result of the large reinsurance 3 pool
required now in the tropics due to increased risk and danger (ACCC 2019).
Despite these claims by insurers, interviewees were not always convinced
and expressed anger at what they perceived to be corporate greed. William,
a middle-aged male homeowner from the Northern Beaches, gets quite
animated when talking about insurance. He argues that insurers ‘get away
with’ what he calls ‘price gouging.’ In past conversations with his chosen
insurer, he relays to me that he was advised that insurance premiums are
high due to recent weather events. He responds,
I’m like horse shit, they can price gouge. The insurance industry I think
has taken (a hit) when Brisbane got washed out […] And they’ve got to
recoup it from somewhere. Now my feeling is that they don’t spread the
love, so they hit the people that it affects more than other people.
William’s feelings are not distinct from other participants who accuse the
insurance sector of being almost psychopathic in their approach to the
insured. One male renter in his mid-twenties from the Northern Beaches,
Fredrick (see later), suggests that insurers are ‘crooks’ and labels them as
nothing more than profiteers.
This dim feeling towards insurers is built, as I have argued, through the
stories of others that are delivered either in person or through the media.
They contribute to participants expressing resignation, dismay, distrust,
and even anger. In these cases, emotional reflexivity has already happened.
However, in a few interviews, participants exhibited emotional reflexivity as
the interview progressed.
Here, the interview process appears to have contributed to them questioning their own insurance policies and associated emotional responses. As an
example, Cass, a retired woman and homeowner from Trinity Beach, suggests that before the interview began, she took out her policies and ‘started
reading it’ only to discover ‘there’s all these exclusions and stuff.’ The actual
interview itself caused her to wonder ‘what will happen if I actually need it
(insurance)?’ She proceeds when asked ‘why are you paying for it?’
Yes exactly, exactly. I suppose you’d get a little bit but I never expect
anything from insurance companies and that’s why I’m saying now I’m
probably going to cancel my (she pauses)…
It is at this moment that Cass appears guided by her emotions as she reflects
on what she was deciding to do. Specifically, she is guided by a fear of victimisation from home break-ins that she has experienced as she suggests that
‘I need my home/contents if anything happens because if you get burgled,
and that happened to me a few times […] and I didn’t have insurance.’ Her
emotions of those past events cause her to reflect in the moment and alter
her decision. She continues,