Australian Reinsurance Pool Corporation (ARPC) will implement updated postcode allocations that determine terrorism insurance premium tiers in 2026.
This move follows the issuance of Terrorism and Cyclone Insurance (Premiums) Amendment (Postcode Update) Direction 2025. The new ministerial direction issued by the Assistant Treasurer and Minister for Financial Services Dr Daniel Mulino updates the postcode tables previously set in Terrorism Insurance (Premiums) Direction 2019. The new guidelines instrument is made under the Terrorism and Cyclone Insurance Act 2003.
ARPC’s premiums are set using three tiered rates specified by postcode of location of the insured property. Tiers are representative of risk and are based on population density.
- Tier A: CBD areas of Australian cities with a population of over 1m people.
- Tier B: Urban areas of all state capital cities and cities with a population of over 100,000 people.
- Tier C: Those postcodes not allocated to either Tier A or B.
The Ministerial direction will take effect from 1 January 2026, and ARPC will implement the updated postcode allocations from that date. The premium rates under the Reinsurance Agreement for Terrorism Risks (2017) are unchanged; only the postcodes to premium tiers (Tiers A, B and C) has been updated.
The adjustments that will take effect on 1 January 2026 include the following:
- 30 postcodes located on the edges of urban areas, where substantial development is occurring, have been reclassified from Tier C to Tier B.
- Seven postcodes, where development activity has slowed or stabilised, have been reclassified from Tier B to Tier C.
- No newly classified major metropolitan/CBD areas were identified in this review.
Throughout the first quarter of 2026, ARPC will take a cooperative and programmatic approach, supporting insurers as they transition to the new postcode tiers.