26 September 2023

COVID covered in new insurance cover

Start the conversation

An Australian-first COVID-19 event insurance product is to be launched by the Victorian Managed Insurance Authority (VMIA) in December to give Victoria’s events industry the confidence to plan events in the new year.

Announced by Minister for Creative Industries, Danny Pearson, the 12-month VMIA COVID-19 Event Insurance Scheme is to insure up to $230 million of events against cancellation due to public health measures, or where events had reduced capacity due to restrictions.

“The Insurance Scheme responds to calls from the sector to address a gap in the market and provide peace of mind,” Mr Pearson said.

In a statement, Creative Victoria said the cover would be available for creative, sporting, business and community events held in Victoria with an estimated revenue or cost of between $20,000 and $10 million.

“The insurance will provide a 100 per cent payout of the declared value of an event (expected revenue or cost) if the event has to be cancelled due to Government restrictions being imposed,” Creative Victoria said.

“If an event goes ahead with fewer patrons because of capacity limits introduced by Government restrictions, or organisers choose to cancel because of those capacity restrictions, they will receive 50 per cent of the declared value,” it said.

“Event organisers with an ABN (including sole traders) will be eligible to apply through a simple online process.”

Creative Victoria said for ticketed events, the event organiser must have a refund policy in place for purchased tickets.

It said VMIA had designed the Scheme to be as simple as possible, to enable more cover to be offered and to deliver support quickly in the event of a payout.

Further information on the Authority’s COVID-19 Event Insurance Scheme can be accessed at this PS News link.

Start the conversation

Be among the first to get all the Public Sector and Defence news and views that matter.

Subscribe now and receive the latest news, delivered free to your inbox.

By submitting your email address you are agreeing to Region Group's terms and conditions and privacy policy.