Natasha N was excellent. As first time business owners there are so many policies you don't think about or are too convoluted to understand. Natasha explained everything in simple terms and guided us to what we actually needed, we were also on a tight budget and did everything she could do bring the price down. Super efficient, professional and lovely, highly recommend.
Business insurance matched to what your business does
Quick answerWhat does business insurance cover for a small business?Business insurance can protect your premises, contents and stock, lost profits after insured damage, and liability to other people. Depending on your work, you may also need cover for advice, cyber incidents or management decisions. Consolidated Insurance Brokers recommends appropriate cover and sets up the policies you choose.
Protect your business, from its contents and stock to the claims it could face. We compare cover and price, explain your options and help you decide.
Google reviews, word for word
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We had excellent service in obtaining insurance on a newly purchased commercial property. Clayton Rowlings explained everything so clearly and very patient with many questions regarding different options. Highly recommended! Thanks Clayton.
Tracey helped me sort out professional indemnity and public liability insurance for my new business - she was super helpful throughout the process helping me navigate for the first time.
Deja provided a prompt and professional service in securing a policy that suited my requirements.
Terrific experience with Gina. I had a difficult policy which other brokers couldn't find a solution for. Gina had an option for me within a few hours. I would highly recommend.
Thank you so much Cyndie for your help/advice/service. You made the whole process so easy. Thank you again. Jason Armstrong
Alison was a life-saver for us, staying after hours to make sure that we could get the building insurance coverage we urgently needed for a property purchase.
Debbie was always happy to help with my questions and very prompt with her service.
Hi I can highly recommend Aimee Spencer for all your insurance needs she has done a fantastic effort on keeping my insurance policy once again Many Thanks for all your work
Saskia Van Oostveen was efficient, professional, accurate, helpful and friendly throughout the entire process. Highly recommend!
A great experience with Tori, attaining some tricky commercial insurance, she was very professional in catering to your needs, whilst also having a quick turn around.
Jade was wonderful, finding me insurance coverage for a commercial property. Greatly appreciated her excellent service.
I contacted Tracey E from Consolidated Insurance Brokers for some commercial property quotes. Tracey was super helpful helpful, friendly and provided great advice. Highly recommend for all your insurance needs!
Thanks for your assistance Dylan with car insurance inquiry you have been really helpful and professional.
Shona was always available and answered all my queriers. A1 service and happy to recommend.
I contacted Renay after she was recommended by a family friend, for home and contents insurance. She was prompt and helpful and had me all sorted in a couple of days. Highly recommend!
I needed fast transit insurance this week and Daniel Roussounis was outstanding in his immediate response and getting this organized for me. Can't recommend Daniel and Consolidated Insurance Brokers highly enough!
Second year organising insurance with Jim K., did not have any issues and a smooth transition. I recommend
May Lewong at the Emerald office was amazing. Easy to deal with and was quick and efficient.
Reena was absolutely fantastic during the entire process helping me set you our new home and contents insurance. Would definitely recommend to anyone.
Natasha as always, gives us professional, exceptional service and would recommend her to any business :-)
Read every review, word for word as it was written on Google
Written by William Paull, QPIB
Co-Founder & Account Director · Read William’s full profile
Which covers does your business need?
| Cover | What it does |
|---|---|
| Your building | If you own it, insure it for what it would cost to rebuild today. |
| Contents and stock | Contents and stock are one cover on the packs we place, and usually the first a trading business needs, whether you own or lease. |
| Public liability | Injury or property damage your business causes to someone else, at your premises or theirs. |
| Professional indemnity | Responds where your advice or service causes someone a financial loss. The work you do and the wording decide what else it covers. |
| Business interruption | Protects your profits when insured damage stops you trading. |
| Management liability | Claims against the business and its directors, such as an employment dispute or a regulator inquiry. Only a few of the packs we place offer it as a section, so it is usually a separate policy. |
| Cyber | The cost of a data breach, ransomware or a scam that gets inside your systems, including telling customers and getting back online. No pack we place includes it, so it needs its own policy. |
| Vehicles | A car, van or ute used for work needs its own cover, separate from a private motor policy. Up to 14 work vehicles go on a commercial motor policy. A fleet, generally 15 or more, goes on motor fleet, and heavy vehicles on truck insurance. See also customers' vehicles. |
| Equipment breakdown | Breakdown of machinery such as compressors, cool rooms, lifts and specialist plant is excluded from property cover on every pack we place, so it needs its own section. See also plant and equipment. |
| Industry packages | For construction, retail, offices, trades, farms and warehousing. |
| Trade credit | Unpaid customer accounts. We don't place it, so we refer you to a specialist. |
One policy, or several? A business pack can bring property, liability and business interruption cover together in one policy, with one renewal and one premium. You choose the sections your business needs. What it costs depends on the insurer, and sometimes more sections get a better price.
We add a standalone policy where you need a higher limit, a specialist wording or a cover the pack's insurer doesn't write.
If a fire shut your doors, could you still pay the bills?
Business interruption cover can help pay the ongoing bills and replace lost profit while insured damage stops you trading. The figure and the period you choose both matter.
The period limits how long the cover can respond, and the wording will not stretch a short one. Allow for the full time it could take to repair the damage and recover your trade. We recommend at least 18 months, and often 24 or 36 depending on your business. The period is yours to choose, and a longer one leaves you in a stronger position when you claim. Business interruption explained shows how the figure is set. Business interruption can be one of the dearer sections of a pack, and some owners choose to carry the risk themselves.
Doesn't the landlord's insurance cover your business?
Usually not. If you lease, your landlord insures the building and you insure what's inside it.
Most leases also ask for public liability, proved by a certificate of currency. A lease can make you pay for damage your business does to the building, even damage you did not see happen. For Business Owner Tenants lists the rest of what a lease asks of you.
Who looks after your business insurance?
A broker sets your cover up with you, and the same broker normally looks after it from one renewal to the next.
We put most business pack risks to a panel of insurers who write that cover competitively, and flag a specialist option where it's genuinely cheaper without being worse. If the right cover costs more than you hoped, we explain what each choice leaves you carrying, and you decide. We can also negotiate the cover and terms with insurers to suit your business.
We remarket your policy every year, asking insurers to quote on it again. We show you what we earn on every invoice, as few brokerages in Australia do, and have done since we started in 2010.
What catches business owners out?
Setting the Contents and Stock sum insured low. Stock is insured for what your business paid for it, not what you'd sell it for. Insure the full replacement cost of everything on site: fitout, contents, electronic equipment, furniture, plant, machinery, stock and customers' goods.
Assuming theft sits under property or contents cover. On the business packs we place, theft is its own section. Forced entry and other listed events can trigger the main cover. Theft without forced entry may have a smaller limit, and some policies exclude stock from that smaller benefit. What decides whether a theft is paid has the detail.
Assuming flood is covered, or that an empty premises stays covered. Most of the packs we place exclude flood unless it has been added and shows on the schedule. Where it can be added, we can show you the cost, and you decide. On most of the policies we place, cover for fire, storm, water damage, malicious damage and theft stops once the premises has been empty for 90 days in a row, unless the insurer agrees in writing. Tell us as soon as you know the premises will sit empty, so there is time to ask for that agreement.
Buying on price alone. A lower quote may reflect different cover, a smaller sum insured or a more competitive insurer. Compare the cover, limits and excess alongside the price. A higher excess can lower the premium and help make fuller cover affordable. Why we sometimes recommend a higher excess explains the trade-off.
Whose name should be on a business insurance policy?
Every entity and person who actually runs or owns part of the business, exactly as the business operates, because the insured name decides who is covered.
A family-run tourism business ran a hands-on outdoor activity. When a customer was injured, the insurer questioned whether the person who ran it was a named insured. Our account director produced file notes going back years, showing the cover was always meant to include that operator. On that evidence, the insurer accepted the intent and granted indemnity, with no excess to pay, while the underlying claim continues.
What happens when you claim?
On a policy we look after, a specialist claims manager will run your claim, and your broker will stay involved.
The claims manager will deal with the insurer and keep you informed, so you can get on with running your business. We will explain what information the insurer needs from you. The insurer makes the decision, and we press for what the policy and the evidence support.
Every cover we arrange is listed in our insurance directory.
Short answers
What insurance does a small business need in Australia?
Consider the contents your business would need to replace, including its fit-out and any stock, alongside its public liability. Add professional indemnity if you advise, business interruption for your profits, cyber if you hold customer data, and management liability once you employ staff. Consolidated Insurance Brokers can arrange each of these, and you choose.
My broker has gone quiet. Do I have to wait for my renewal?
No. You can appoint us to look after a suitable policy you already hold, part way through its term and without cancelling it. We can take it on now or at renewal.
How much does business insurance cost?
These three are among the lowest premiums in our book for a Queensland business's contents and stock, as at October 2026, all up including government charges and fees.
Turnover up to $250,000: from $335 a year (a massage therapist, contents and stock $30,000, $500 excess).
Turnover of $250,000 to $1 million: from $500 a year (an accountant, contents and stock $20,000, $500 excess).
Turnover of $1 million to $5 million: from $600 a year (a machinery maker, contents and stock $30,000, $500 excess).
None of the three includes liability or business interruption.
The accountant's $500 policy above covered $20,000 of contents, theft up to $10,000 and glass, and nothing else.
Is workers' compensation the same as business insurance?
No. Workers' compensation is separate from a business pack and is not cover we arrange. Employers must meet their state or territory scheme's requirements, and the scheme responds first when an employee is hurt. Our public liability insurance page explains when an employee's claim the scheme does not cover can reach a pack's liability section.
Find out what your business pack covers, and what it should.
Starting out, signing a new lease, or holding a renewal that went up with nobody ringing to explain it? Ring 07 3292 1111 and a broker will talk it through with you. We go through the cover you hold, or the cover you need, and fit it to your business.