I do not guys this seems a clouded issue to my in my last attempts to investigate power surges many years ago I borrowed from our engineers (distribution engineering) some equipment and found the source as an adjacent substation 100ms away.
So just blame your utility for that
As for storm surge well best protection is to switch off appliances and not use the telephone lines I reckon

Every wire inside every cable makes a 'less than 3 meter' connection to earth. If any one wire does not, then you have no effective protection. Three phase and a fourth wire. Does every wire make that short connection to the only earth ground - eitther direct or via a 'whole house' protector? Any one wire inside any cable that does not means ineffective building protection.

Either the wire makes that short connection to earth. Or it makes that connection via a protector.

I appreciate your confusion if this is the first time anyone has asked you what does protection Because an overwhleming majority foolishly think a protector does protection - and then promote the lie. An easily scammed majority will recommend a protector rather than learn about the only thing that does protection - single point earth ground. That means every incoming wire - no exceptons - make the always required short connection to earth.

If a doorbell wire out at the security gate does not get earthed before entering a building, then your building has ineffective surge protection. Then AC mains and telephone protectors have been compromised. Especially when using a Monster Cable protector that costs $500. Hopefully you are learning about the only item that does protection. It is not a protector. Unlearning lies promoted by myth promoters is difficult. Teaching reality to those educated by retail salemen can be extremely difficult.

re Safety Switches:
http://www.esv.vic.gov.au/Portals/0/About%20ESV/Files/Brochures/ESV_DL6pp(SafetySwitch)_SCREEN.pdf
The installer should check the house earthing when he installs the switch (try to get something in writing)

Cheap surge protectors have been known to catch fire (in one case, a Fire Station was burnt out; the red faced fireman later learnt it was due to the cheap surge protector/power strip in the office)

We're building a new house and have gone for surge arresters - we have 3 phase power so that cost us 3 x $126 = $378 - not a lot of money in the scheme of things.

We also went down the path of getting surge protection added at build time....as we are coming up to handover I was wondering if there was an easy way to check that it has been installed?

Cheers
Heath

Absolute rubbish
Where did you get that from

The protector itself does not do any protection. Protection is defined by the only item that does protection - earth ground. Is the protector properly connected? Only visual inspection can identify that. The protector that connects to AC mains must also connect as short as possible to the single point earth ground. Any sharp bends in the wire from protector to earth means compromised protection. Other mistakes to inspect for - no splices, that wire not inside metallic conduit, as short as possible (if it goes up over the foundation and down to earthing, then too long).

And it must be a single point ground. Every connection from every incoming cable must be that short (ie 'less than 3 meters') to the same earth ground. Obviously, protection increases if the earthing system increases. The protector does not do any protection. No protector does any protection. Earth ground is the most critical inspection. A protector is only as effective as the only thing that is doing the protection - the earthing system. Where inspection is important.

Your post implies you are still confused by the minor aspect – a protector. Overwhelmingly is the most critically important system component – earthing.