Northern Australians are dropping insurance as sky-high premiums cripple community life, according to a report by the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC). The final report from the ACCC’s three-year Northern Australia Insurance Inquiry shows that 20 per cent of homes (around 86,000 properties) in north Australia are uninsured, almost double the rate in other parts of the country. The non-insurance rate is highest in north Western Australia, followed by Northern Territory and north Queensland. Within five years from 2011 to 2016, an extra 30,000 properties in north Queensland have gone without building insurance, while it is around 4,000 in north Western Australia. Unaffordable insurance cost is forcing more people to choose not to have their home insured the report pointed out. “We have heard first-hand how many residents of northern Australia are struggling to find suitable and affordable insurance in this market, and the considerable impact this is having …