Australia: Insurer QBE blames La Niña for disasters

"The catastrophe events that have taken place this year, the floods in Queensland, the fires, have nothing to do with climate change. They are part of Australia's really long history of floods, fires, droughts," said Belinda Hutchinson, chairman of Australia's largest international insurer, QBE in a report by The Sydney Morning Herald.

"The linking of seasonal La Nina events to long-term climate shifts is a matter for climatologists to comment on," an Insurance Council of Australia (ICA) spokesman said. "However, disaster events are becoming more expensive. This is caused by rising costs in building and a lack of policy initiatives by the government to reduce communities' exposure to risks."