If you take out the insurance for your event and a State or the Federal Government imposes restrictions for the period your event is due to be held, you’ll receive the following payment:

• 100% of the event’s declared value if the event has to be cancelled or
• 50% of the event’s declared value if the event goes ahead with reduced capacity (or you choose to cancel the event because of those capacity restrictions).

Declared value is the amount you want to insure your event for – either the revenue you expect to make from the event, or the cost of putting it on. You nominate a declared value when you take out the insurance, based on either revenue or cost. For multi-day events, you need to provide a declared value for each event day. For events with more than 10 individual days, please email eventinsurance@vmia.vic.gov.au with each date and declared value separately listed.

To change the declared value for your event after you’ve purchased the insurance, email eventinsurance@vmia.vic.gov.au.

To purchase COVID-19 Event Insurance, you would pay a one-off cost, known as a premium. The premium is a percentage of the event’s declared value (an amount you nominate when you purchase the insurance, either the expected revenue or cost).

For creative industry events (including music, live performance, visual arts, literature, design, fashion, or screen culture) and small events (where the declared value is between $20,000 and $100,000), the premium is 2% of declared value (including stamp duty and GST).

For other events (where the declared value is over $100,000), the premium is 4% of declared value (including stamp duty and GST).

An event is an organised gathering for a common purpose which:

• is conducted on a one-off, periodic, or regular basis; and
• has attendance managed through a ticketing or registration process; and
• may be subject to specific license, approvals or permits.

These events may:

• be organised on a for-profit or not-for-profit basis; and
• take place in a facility, venue, indoor or outdoor space.

The cover is available for creative, sporting, business and community events held in Victoria with estimated revenue or cost of between $20,000 and $10 million. For ticketed events, the event organiser must have a COVID-19 refund policy in place.

One event organiser is eligible per event, who can hold, cancel and relocate an event, and collect proceeds from ticket sales. That includes producers, promoters or venue owners and excludes entities owned by a Local, State or the Federal Government.

No, the insurance is optional. You can still hold an event without taking out a policy. 

To apply for a policy, you’ll need to complete an online COVID-19 Event Insurance application form. You’ll need to provide event dates, declared value (either the expected event revenue or cost), your ABN (unless you are holding a small event with expected revenue or cost of between $20,000 and $100,000), as well as your name, address, and contact number.

You also need to supply confirmation that the event will be held in Victoria and that the expected revenue from the event, or the cost of holding the event, is between $20,000 and $10 million. If your event is ticketed, you will need to declare that you have a COVID-19 refund policy in place for ticketholders. 

The insurance is available for events between 31 December 2021 and 31 December 2022. The policy needs to be applied for at least 14 days before:

• the scheduled event start date, or
• the first day, if it's a multi-day event.

No, the policy doesn’t cover a performer contracting COVID-19 or having to isolate due to COVID-19.

If the event can still go ahead with reduced capacity under the restrictions, you can claim for 50% of the declared value of the event.

If you choose to cancel the event because of density restrictions, you can claim 50% of the event's declared value.

No, the policy is only triggered if an event has to be cancelled or held at reduced capacity because of COVID-19 related restrictions imposed by a State or the Federal Government. If you cancel your event you may be eligible for a premium refund if you have purchased a policy.

You can purchase insurance for your event, but it will not cover the same restrictions already announced or in place at the time you buy it.

So you can still purchase the insurance for additional or different restrictions, but you can’t trigger the policy for the restrictions already announced when it’s purchased.

The policy document for your event will have an endorsement added, which means you can’t make a claim for restrictions already announced or in place at the time of purchase. But you can make a claim for additional or different restrictions that are enforced when your event is scheduled. An endorsement is a statement that modifies the terms of an insurance policy. The endorsement you’ll see on your policy is:

'VMIA shall not be liable under this Policy to pay any applicable Benefit attributable to Cancellation or Reduction of the event if such Cancellation or Reduction is solely and directly caused by an existing State or Federal Government Restriction, or the continuation of such Restriction, that was already announced or in place at the time this policy was applied for.'

The policy becomes active as soon as you pay the premium.

Yes. You can cancel your policy any time before your event date to receive a full refund of your premium. Complete the COVID-19 Event Insurance Cancellation form or contact eventinsurance@vmia.vic.gov.au for more information.

The insurance is now available, for events between 31 December 2021 and 31 December 2022. To apply, fill in the online COVID-19 Event Insurance application form.

You can submit a claim after the date of your insured event, providing it was either cancelled or went ahead with reduced capacity because of restrictions related to COVID-19.

If your policy has multiple dates, you can submit a claim after each event date, as long as the event on that day was cancelled or proceeded with reduced capacity because of restrictions related to COVID-19.

If restrictions are announced and your event is impacted, please complete the COVID-19 event insurance claim form to confirm your event is being cancelled or held at reduced capacity, together with bank details for a payment to be made.

No. The policy needs to be purchased at least 14 days in advance of your event, and with no COVID-19 related State or Federal Government restrictions in place at the time of purchase.

No. You can’t claim for a voluntary cancellation not related to COVID-19 State or Federal Government restrictions, or if performers or patrons can’t come to the event because they’ve contracted COVID-19 or are isolating because they’re a close contact.

The policy applies to events that have to be cancelled or go ahead with reduced capacity because of State or Federal Government restrictions related to COVID-19. You may postpone your event as long as the rescheduled event date is 14 days or more from the date of your request. If you decide to postpone the event because of restrictions, email eventinsurance@vmia.vic.gov.au to update the event details in your policy.

COVID-19 Event Insurance is designed to give Victoria’s event industry confidence to plan events in 2022. Once event organisers have taken out insurance for the full allocation (up to $230 million worth of events, depending on the kinds of events insured), no further policies will be available.

The evaluation of the scheme will be supported by Industry consultation to inform future programs to support the sector.

Victorian Managed Insurance Authority (VMIA) is the Victorian Government’s insurer and risk adviser. It insures the Victorian Government’s departments and agencies and $220 billion of the state’s assets, as well as providing other types of insurance like domestic building insurance to homeowners and medical indemnity insurance to doctors and hospitals.

For further information please call 1300 947 430 or email eventinsurance@vmia.vic.gov.au