‘I hate them all’: Insurance staff denigrated home owners who had lost everything

3 months ago 24

Staff at the Victorian government’s insurance agency denigrated distressed home owners with profanities in private messages revealed by the state ombudsman.

Finance Minister Danny Pearson, apologising on behalf of the government, said it was unacceptable that Victorian Managed Insurance Authority staff had called struggling home owners “c---s” following the 2023 high-profile collapse of residential construction companies that left hundreds of families out of pocket.

Porter Davis left hundreds of homes unfinished when it collapsed in March 2023.

Ombudsman Marlo Baragwanath on Wednesday tabled her report into the way the VMIA handled domestic building insurance claims after the insolvencies, including the unprecedented collapse of Porter Davis in March 2023, which left 1700 customers with unfinished homes around the country.

The crisis, which ultimately forced the government to overhaul the way residential construction is regulated, left VMIA staff dealing with an explosion in their workload and distressed customers.

Sometimes customers became abusive, the ombudsman said.

“VMIA received abusive emails and calls, and ‘credible threats of violence’,” the report said. “In some cases, home owners undertook what VMIA described as ‘digital stalking’ to locate staff on social media and contact them directly.”

The state-backed insurance agency closed its office to the public to protect staff after members of the public tried to gain access.

Baragwanath said the stress affected the way some staff members viewed and treated home owners with a lack of empathy.

“im on fire today, called a C**t owner at 8.15 this morning, put her in her place,” one staff member wrote in a private message to colleagues.

“I hate them all,” another replied.

A third employee wrote to colleagues at 7.55 one morning: “just called an owner and woke them, score ... stupid effen query.”

Pearson said he had spoken with VMIA chief executive Andrew Davies to make clear the language was “totally and utterly unacceptable”.

“What I want to say to all the customers of the VMIA who are impacted by the Porter Davis collapse, I want to unreservedly apologise to each and every one of them. This does not meet my standards,” Pearson said. “It doesn’t meet the standards of the government, nor of the community.”

He agreed staff were dealing with an unprecedented workload and significant stress but said this did not justify their language.

Davies also issued an apology: “I unreservedly apologise for the behaviour of these staff members. It’s my expectation that VMIA staff always behave professionally and in accordance with the public sector code of conduct.

“Neither I nor senior management were aware of these comments when they were made. As soon as I became aware, I told the ombudsman about these messages, and I took appropriate actions to address this behaviour.”

A VMIA spokesman said the agency was proud to have delivered for the overwhelming majority of home owners who made a claim.

“To those home owners who had a difficult experience making a claim with us, we apologise. While we listened, learned and improved over our 15 years of providing domestic building insurance, we accept that for some home owners we did not do well enough,” he said.

The collapse of Porter Davis in 2023 was the biggest insolvency of a builder in Victorian history.

The VMIA received more domestic building claims in the six weeks afterwards than during the whole of the previous financial year. A quarter of these claims were lodged in a single day.

While this was unprecedented, the ombudsman said the agency could have done more to prepare.

Opposition finance spokeswoman Bridget Vallence said the ombudsman’s report exposed the agency’s incompetence and disrespect for home owners at their time of need.

“VMIA’s mismanagement has added to the financial and emotion toll for home buyers who found themselves exposed at no fault of their own. Victorians deserve better.”

Responsibility for domestic building insurance has since been transferred to the new Plumbing and Building Commission.

Builders are required by law to obtain domestic building insurance – protecting their customers in the event the company becomes insolvent, for example — before accepting payment for work. The Age revealed in 2023 that builders often circumvented this rule, exposing customers to losses in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The government ultimately compensated home owners left unprotected without insurance, which many believed their builder had obtained for them as required.

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