Travel Insurance Glossary

Understanding key definitions in your travel insurance policy is important because they affect what is covered and what is not. This travel insurance glossary includes common policy definitions for terms like natural disaster, pandemic, and unattended

Note - All definitions are as outlined in our Product Disclosure Statement (PDS) issued on 20 January 2026. Review the full PDS and TMD prior to purchase to determine if cover suits your needs

• Accident 

  • Unintended sudden or violent action or impact from an external physical force such as crushing, collision or fall.

• Business Associate 

  • Any person who works at your place of business and who, if you were both away from work at the same time, would prevent the business from running properly.

• Civil Unrest 

  • Activities inclusive of organised protests, riots, arson, looting, occupation of institutional buildings, border infringements and armed insurrection (excluding where civil war has been declared). 

• Natural Disaster 

  • Floods, earthquakes, tsunamis, landslides, volcanic eruptions, hurricanes, typhoons, tornadoes, cyclones and objects falling from space. 

• Pandemic

  • An epidemic that is expected to affect more than one country or declared to be a pandemic by a public health authority. 

• Partner 

  • A person over the age of 18, who you live with at the time of purchasing this insurance, and who is your husband or wife, fiancé or fiancée, or de-facto partner of either sex and who is named on the Insurance certificate. 

• Personal Electronics

  • Laptop, tablets, cameras, video cameras, photographic equipment, headphones and other audio equipment, video and electrical equipment, media players, drones, mobile phones, computer equipment and electronic watches

• Pre-Existing Medical Condition

  •  Any medical condition for which there has been prescribed medication or treatment, advice, tests or investigation in the 2 years prior to policy issue date, including but not limited to:

    • Heart-related, blood circulatory or diabetic condition

    • Neurological condition (including stroke, brain haemorrhage or epilepsy)

    • Respiratory condition 

    • Arthritis, back pain or osteoporosis

    • Bowel condition (including Crohn's disease or IBS)

    • Psychiatric or psychological condition (including anxiety or depression)

    • Cancerous condition

    • And any condition for which there has been referral to or consultation by a doctor, specialist or surgeon in the 12 months prior to policy issue date. 
      Does not include acute conditions that have resolved, such as a cold or flu.

• Public Place

  • Includes but is not limited to shops, airports (including airport lounges), train stations, bus stations, streets, hotel foyers and grounds, hotel or motel room after you have checked out, function/exhibition/conference centres, restaurants, beaches, public toilets, public transport and any place to which the public has access. 

• Public Transport

  • Aircraft, ship, train, tram, taxi (including peer-to-peer services such as Uber), bus or any other shared passenger service which is available for use by the general public.

• Terrorist Act

  • Any actual or threatened use of force or violence directed at or causing damage, injury, harm or disruption, or committing of an act dangerous to human life or property, against any individual, property or government, with the stated or unstated objective of pursuing economic, ethnic, nationalistic, political, racial or religious interests, whether declared or not. Robberies or other criminal acts primarily committed for personal gain and acts arising primarily from prior personal relationships between perpetrator(s) and victim(s) shall not be considered terrorist acts.

• Unattended

  • When an item is not on your person at the time of loss, left with a person other than your travelling companion or travel service provider staff, left in a position where it can be taken without your knowledge (e.g., on the beach or beside the pool while you swim), or leaving it a distance where you cannot prevent it from being lost or stolen. Includes leaving an item behind or forgetting an item. 

• Unattended Motor Vehicle

  • Your rental vehicle or other personal private transport such as your own or a travelling companion’s vehicle that you, your partner or travelling companion are not inside.

• Valuables

  • Antiques, binoculars, drones, furs, jewellery, silks and watches. 

• War

  • War, whether declared or not, or any warlike activities, including use of military force by any sovereign nation to achieve economic, geographic, nationalistic, political, racial, religious or other ends.

• You, Your, Yourself

  • The insured person(s) named on the Insurance certificate.

• Trip (Cruise & Single-Trip Product Disclosure Statement)

  • A return holiday or journey between the departure date and end date listed on your Insurance Certificate, beginning or ending at your home or place of business in Australia  

• Trip (Annual Multi-Trip Product Disclosure Statement) 

  A return holiday or journey between the departure date and end date of up to the maximum trip duration (30, 45 or 60 days) shown on your Insurance Certificate, which: 

  • begins or ends at your home or place of business in Australia. 

  • includes booked public transport or accommodation; and 

  • is to a destination more than 100kms from your home.